The War Isn't Over
by yelhsamelissa
Summary: A Hunger Games fic that takes place during the very start of the games. Back to the very first games. Who will turn out to be the very first victor and how will the districts take the news that there will be more deaths of their children taking place?
1. Prologue

Just because the war is over, doesn't mean the pain will stop. Just because the dead have been buried, doesn't mean that there won't be more to come... More graves to be dug and more tears to be spilled. That will never be over for the population of Districts one through to twelve.

It is said that during peaceful times sons are supposed to bury their fathers, but during war fathers bury their sons. Does that mean that even though it appears that the war is over... that really it's only just begun?

Welcome to the first annual Hunger Games!

The war has been won, but while the dirt on the graves is still fresh, the Capitol has already formed their idea of revenge. Their idea to punish the twelve districts for disobeying them; to show them that the Capitol is still in charge! And that it always will be. They are the higher authority of Panem after all, that was proven when the districts crumbled below them. Yet they still feel that they have to reinforce this knowledge every year from now.

So they hatched a plan. A brilliant plan, if they do say so themselves. They decided that each year they will take two children from each district, a male and a female, and place them in an arena. These children will be known as the tributes. And through what happens to them in the arena, the districts will be struck with the fact of who is in charge.  
How will the districts react when they are forced to sit by and watch what happens to their children though? Of course some won't care, not everyone will have a connection to the tribute. But the message will still get across.

Oh... And may the odds be ever in your favour.

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_**AN.** Guys, keep reading.. please! This is pretty much just a little introduction, I promise! Carry on reading and it should (hopefully) get better!_


	2. Chapter 1 - District One

**[Topaz Hyacinth's P.O.V]**

We had lost... The capitol had actually managed to win the war. And now it was all over. We would always be trapped serving as their little pets, to do with what they pleased. Sure, I was from one of the better of districts, but at the end of the day, what did that really matter? We were all just the same to them. It didn't appear to matter if we had money or not; it didn't seem to matter what items we could supply them with... Either way, they didn't even look twice as they knocked us down, killing plenty in the process.

I rolled over in my bed, trying my hardest to stop myself from chewing my lip as I thought over everything that was going on.

We were given a small amount of time to "dispose of our dead", as they had called it, but then we were forced to go back to working. Forced to go back to school. Forced to follow every silly little rule that was put into place – the punishments set up for breaking these were ridiculous as well. We really could not do much of anything anymore.

They had, of course, given themselves more time to mourn and bury their dead. Everything had to be by the Capitol's clock. It all had to be done by their timings, and how they wanted it. Which was why classes and everything had been called off today; the Capitol wanted our full attention. And they would make sure they received it. My district was expected to all be present in and around the city centre. What for exactly, nobody knew. All we knew was that presence was mandatory.

We could guess of course, it was fairly obvious when you looked back at the recent events. They wanted to punish us. It was just how they would do it that scared us all the most.

An hour or so later and I could hear a knock at my door. I pulled my blanket back over my head and curled up, pretending to sleep still. I knew it would not work though; my mother would still get me out of bed. I listened as the door creaked open and footsteps made their way across my room. I could hear her humming to herself as she pulled the curtains open, probably letting the morning sun enter my room in the process. I stayed still as the footsteps got closer to me and she gently shook me.

"Rise and shine, Topaz. We have an important day, remember?" I could practically hear the smile in her voice. That was just like my mother, she would smile through everything. Even after my father's death and she was still plastering that smile on her face. It got annoying sometimes, but during rare moments it was just what I needed.

I groaned and mumbled something about not wanting to get up yet, but she still pulled the blanket off of me. She told me not to be silly and then walked out of my room, leaving the door wide open. I don't think she liked it when my door was closed, not anymore. And to be honest, it probably did not matter all that much anyway. Not since it was just me and her left in the house.

Finally I climbed out of bed and headed for my drawers. We were supposed to be wearing our best clothes for the day. I didn't see the point. Did they really want to punish us in our Sunday best? Did they really just want to make a show of us? Make us look good so that those members of the Capitol who somehow still had a heart, didn't feel bad for us.

Of course, I never voiced my opinions of the Capitol to anyone, it was too dangerous. They would have their ways of finding out, and then I would be in a big pile of trouble. I had already heard stories of what had happened to people since the war. The rules had managed to become more strict and the punishments more harsh since they had won the war. Did they really have to punish us that much? Wasn't losing punishment enough? Wasn't the number of people, family, friends who crumpled under them, wasn't that bad enough? I really did not see how it could get worse. What could they do to us today that could make anything worse? I couldn't imagine anything.

I bite my lip once again when I looked in my small mirror. Dark circles were visible under my eyes, probably from the lack of sleep lately, and my dirty blonde hair was a mess on my head. Of course I felt bad about worrying about what I looked like, with everything that was going on, but that was just my reason. Today was apparently important and I had to look my best. So yes, I was scared that having bags under my eyes and my hair being an untameable bird's nest would get me into trouble. It isn't just that I'm that shallow. Well... most of the time at least.

Grabbing my brush, I yanked it through my hair until it was at least half tamed. That was probably about as good as I was going to get it today, trust it to be messing me around on a day like today. Shrugging to myself I walked towards the small bathroom that I shared with my mother. Just because we lived in one of the richest districts and our district specialises in 'luxury', certainly does not mean that we all have money. Yeah, okay, so I realise that even being on the poorer side of my district, I'm still better off than some of the other districts. But still... don't judge me just because of where I live. I mean, it's only a number... right?

I splashed my face with cold water, not having the time to take the calming bath that I wanted. And to be honest, I probably needed it as well. Ignoring that small fact – and flicking my eyes to the bath with a sigh – I picked up my small make up bag and got to work.

After a solid nine and a half minutes work, I had myself looking a bit more presentable, the shadows under my eyes less visible than before at least anyway. I might not have all the decent stuff, but I can certainly work with what I've got.

I dragged myself back to my room to find my best dress already set out on my bed, the matching shoes placed next to it. Smiling to myself at my mother's organisation I quickly stripped out of my thin bed clothes, and then threw them towards the wash pile in my corner. I should probably take them downstairs and wash them at some point...

Instead of taking the dirty clothes to be washed like I should, I ran my fingers over the soft fabric of the dress and sighed. I still didn't understand how my father had managed to afford this dress. It was the last thing he had ever given me, and I definitely treasured it.

I pulled the fabric over my head and then carried on, letting it slid down the rest of the way.

I smiled as the flowing red material clung to my figure and then loosened after my hips, hanging down just above my knees. I smiled at the familiar feel of it before slipping my feet into my small black flats. It was the one dress that when I wore, I seemed to look on the right scale with the rest of my district.

I tucked a bit of my hair behind my ear before heading down the stairs, walking straight up to my mother and giving her a kiss on the cheek. I smiled at the sight of the toast she had made and quickly ate my way through my portion.

One finished I looked over at her and smiled, noticing that her plate was empty too. I got up to go and wash the plates but she shook her head.

"Leave them for later, sweetheart." She told me with a sad smile. I was about to ask why but then I noticed the time. Surely it could not be that time already...

Yeah, sure, I couldn't see how they could possibly punish us any further, but I was still terrified. This was the Capitol after all, they would think of something. Even if no one else could, they always knew just how to punish us further.

I sighed and stood up, heading towards the door behind my mother. I slipped my hand into hers once we were outside, glancing up at her as she gave it a small squeeze.

"Mum...what do you think they are going to do?" I asked, biting my lip slightly.

She shook her head, giving me another sad smile. "I couldn't tell you even if I knew, Topaz. Now come on, we do not want to miss it..." She pulled me slightly, causing me to walk faster so that I could keep up with her.

After twenty minutes of walking the meeting point came into view. The whole district was there already by the looks of it. I had never realised how many of us there were...

As soon as the Peacekeepers caught sight of me and my mum they dragged me away from her. I cried out, trying to keep hold of her hand but she shot me a look that said "behave" and dropped my hand. I nodded my head slightly, not wanting to disappoint my mother, and then went with the Peacekeepers quietly. I kept my head down, not taking note of where they were leading me. I didn't notice anything until they led me to a table, a small line in front of it. Obviously I was right in thinking the rest of the district was here already. In the back of my mind, I noted that it was only teenagers in the line and that everyone older or younger than that was crowded around the sides, cut off from us by ropes.

I didn't notice that the line in front of me had disappeared until one of the Peacekeepers pushed me towards the table. I stumbled, but just about caught myself before I fell over. Shooting a glare towards whoever pushed me, I stepped up the rest of the way to the table.

"Name?" the woman at the table asked, not even glancing up at me.

"T- Topaz Hyacinth..." I mumbled, watching the folder that she had been writing in.

I heard her sigh and looked up to see her looking at me. "Repeat that."

I chewed my lip before repeating my name slightly louder. I guess she must have caught it this time since she started to write. She managed half of it at least before she looked up at me with a slightly annoyed expression. "Would you spell the surname out for me?"

I held back a small smile; everyone seemed to ask me that. To be honest, I did not understand why though. It wasn't exactly that hard to spell, I had heard of harder ones before. The letters flew off my tongue and I watched as she wrote them down.

"Age?" was the next question.

"Seventeen." I replied straight away. I did not understand why they were asking all of this, what were they going to do with it? Had they just lost the record of the district teenagers and they needed to keep track of them again? For some reason, I couldn't see that being the reason behind it.

The next thing they did had to be by far the most shocking. The woman picked up a small machine and asked me to hold my finger out. Being the good little district girl I was being made to be, I followed the orders. And what did they do? They stabbed the tip of my finger.

So, okay... maybe that would be a slight exaggeration. All they really did was jab it and pierce the skin to get a tiny bit blood, but it stung. Then they squeezed my finger and forced it on to the section of the page with my name and age on. I would bet anything that by the end of the day they would have my picture plastered there too. That's all I am to them after all, another face; another number.

Once the woman was done with her short interrogation another Peacekeeper came along and grabbed my arm, leading me over to a large pen with the a sign saying "17 – GIRLS" in a large clear print. They were actually putting us into pens... This was completely messed up.

Just by looking around I could tell who would have to take the blunt of the punishment. It was clear that the Capitol was taking their anger out on those from the ages of twelve to eighteen. We were the ones who were going to be punished for the war.

I looked up at what appeared to be the front of the area; a large stage had been set up with big screens surrounding it. Flicking my eyes around the rest of the large square I noticed that there were other screens set up so that the adults and children further away could watch what happened on the stage still. I sudden thought hit me – they weren't just going to slaughter all of us, the ones penned up, and make our families watch... were they? No. Surely not even the Capitol citizens would agree to that. Not even they would...

I focused my eyes on the stage, noticing to large glass bowls sat there. And they were filled to the brim with what appeared to be small white pieces of paper. Frowning to myself, I wondered what the hell was going on.

I was about to turn to a girl stood right next to me in our pen to ask if she had any idea, when a small woman with half straight and half curly, bright green hair appeared on the stage. I just about managed to hold back a giggle at the sight of the Capitol woman. I always did have to hold back the giggles when I saw any of them. They just looked so ridiculous! This one seemed to like bright colours that clashed, but thinking back to others that I had seen, it wasn't that unusual.

I struggled to keep my eyes focused on her as she started to speak. I didn't catch what she said at first, but then a video was playing. On the screens all around the square they were showing clips from the war that we had just lost. I could hear the sobs coming from members of my district, but I clenched my fists and kept my head up high. I refused to give the Capitol that power over me. I refused to give them the power over my tears.

There was a pause as they showed the capitol seal and then the screens went back to the strange Capitol lady stood on the stage. This time I caught what she was saying.

"Welcome to the first annual Hunger Games!" She said in the funny Capitol accent. "You are all probably wondering what exactly I mean by 'Hunger Games', aren't you? Well! You'll find out right away, don't worry. But first..." I could see a big grin on her face as she spoke, obviously pleased with being the one to get to announce this to us. "We need to pick our tributes! We will have one girl and one boy! This brings me to how we have this all set up this morning! By now you have probably realised that you have been separated into boys and girls between the ages of twelve to eighteen, correct? Correct!" She grinned even wider and did a little clap. "So we have all of the young ladies names in one bowl, and all of the others in the other bowl. Its brilliant, isn't it?" She walked towards one of the bowls. "Now... I think we will pick our young lady first!" She plunged her hand into the bowl and after a few seconds she pulled out a single slip.

She carried it back to the microphone in the middle of the stage and grinned as she opened it. "Let's have a big round of applause to District One's first female tribute... TOPAZ HYACINTH!"

I stood there shocked, that was my name... She had just called out my name and I could feel the majority of the districts eyes turned to me, a few even clapping like the woman had told them to. I took a deep breath and raised my hand slightly. "I- I'm here." I called, not knowing what else I was expected to do.

"Now don't be afraid dear, come on up here!" the Capitol woman said with a wave of her hand towards me. As she spoke two Peacekeepers came up to me and took hold of me by the elbows, they guided me to the steps of the stage and then let go of me. They stayed stood at the bottom, blocking any chance of me walking away.

Taking a deep breath I started what felt like a mile long journey up the steps. I wasn't even sure if my legs would hold me by themselves, but somehow I had made it. And then I was stood there, next to the funny looking woman, my face being repeated over all the screens around the square.

The woman was gushing again, going on about how lucky I was. But I could tell that I was anything but lucky. This was the Capitol, and they were supposed to be punishing us after all.

After what seemed like a lifetime she started to make her way over to the other bowl – the bowl that I guessed was filled with all of the boys' names. She dipped her hand into the bowl, but this time instead of going for one near the bottom she picked one from the top. She just picked it up straight away and carried it to the microphone.

I kept my eyes faced forward, towards the crowd, and my expression as blank as I could manage. I tried my hardest to block the thoughts of what they were going to do with me, and started to focus on what was being said. Just in time to hear the boys' name being called out.

"Cutter Morgen!"

The Morgen's were a rather powerful and wealthy family within our district, so if the something was to happen to their youngest son then surely they would argue. Surely they would fight to save him. And then maybe, just maybe, I would get pulled to safety too.

What was I thinking, of course that wouldn't happen! They would let the Capitol have their way; that was what we were all supposed to do now. The Capitol had won, so no one was about to argue with them.

By the time I was finished fighting with myself in my head, Cutter had made his way up the stairs. He stood tall on the other side of the Capitol representative, looking around at the crowd; somehow he managed to make himself seem bigger than he actually was. His blond hair was flopping into those green eyes of his, shielding them from sight.

"Wonderful!" The woman started again, instantly claiming everyone's attention. "Now we have our first ever tributes from District one! Oh how brilliant!" She said, and I wondered if all of the Capitol people were as excitable as this. "There is one last thing we have to sort out before I explain anymore though. So, before we waste any precious time, would anyone like to volunteer to take the place of either of our tributes?"

I looked around the crowd desperately, but no one put their hand up. Nobody stepped forward to take our place. And to be honest, I didn't blame them. Not even Cutter's older brothers seemed to volunteer in place of him.

She gave a small sad shake of her head. "Shame..." She said, "It's a brilliant chance you're missing out on here. Oh well, maybe next year!" She brightened up more at the end, the huge grin returning to her face. It took a moment for it to sink in just what she had said and then I realised... They would be repeating this event next year. And maybe even the next. Who knew how long the Capitol would be taking their anger out on us.

"Now... On to the Hunger Games, I'm sure you are all very curious as to what they are!" She grinned, looking around at the crowd. "Just like these fine young tributes that have been selected from your district, we will be selecting two more from every other district. Apart from our dear departed friends of district thirteen, that is." She paused for a moment, actually acting like she was sad that her precious Capitol had killed off a whole district.

"That gives us twenty-four tributes in total and you will never guess where we are taking them!" She paused again, probably thinking that she was adding some dramatic effect by keeping us waiting. "The Capitol! We will be taking the pair of these to the Capitol itself!"

I gasped, looking sideways towards the Capitol woman. I was about to say something, but then I realised that it would probably just get me into trouble. I wanted to protest, beg for them to leave me here with my mum. But I couldn't. I just had to go along with them.

They were really taking me to the Capitol... If they were going to kill me then couldn't they at least let me die in my home district? Did they really have to drag me half way across Panem just to prove a point? Of course they did.

"Now, after a few days of relaxing in the Capitol, your tributes will have the honour of competing in the first ever Hunger Games! They will be put into a marvellous arena with the other tributes and then they will get to fight for the chance to win a new lifestyle! I know, you're probably all smacking yourselves for not volunteering in their places, but your chance is now over. So remember to grab your chance next year while you still have it. It could change your life forever after all!"

She went on to say how we – me and Cutter – would be going through some training at the Capitol first, and then she said some other stuff too, but I had stopped listening by that point. I would find out what was happening when it happened, I did not want to have to listen to what I was going to be put through first.

I felt a pair of eyes on me, not just some other person from my district that was only curious about whom I am, but a pair that meant something to me. I scanned the crowd and found her rather quickly; she had managed to force herself near the front of the adult and young child section. I kept my gaze stuck on hers, trying to work out what she was telling me.

Knowing her she was probably trying to tell me to behave and just do as I was told. To be honest, she probably had a point with always telling me that. It was more than likely the best chance I had at ever coming back home anyway.

I broke the eye contact when she nodded towards the Capitol woman, turning my head slightly so that I could just about see her. I guess that meant that I should start listening and actually taking in what she was saying too...

"And later on tonight all around Panem, everyone – and that means everyone, no exceptions – will be tuning in to watch a live announcement from the Capitol! Then after that, everybody will be expected to watch all of the updates of the games." Her expression darkened for a second. "There will be no exceptions for not watching! This is expected of all of you!" Then she went back to grinning at the crowd.

This woman was actually managing to slightly freak me out. I silently hoped that not all of the Capitol was like her.

After another few minutes of her chatter she led me and Cutter off the stage by the back steps, leading us straight in to the justice building. As soon as we were in there and the doors were shut, two groups of Peacekeepers came up to us and took me and Cutter down separate corridors. I guess that was the last I was to be seeing of him until we started the journey to the Capitol. And who knew, maybe they would even keep us apart then. It would make sense, since they were taking us away from every other part of our district.

The Peacekeepers pushed me into a room, but this time I fell just as they shut the door. A thud echoed around the room as they flicked the lock, locking me in by myself.

I picked myself up off the floor and straightened my dress; I wasn't hurt since the carpet was nice and thick.

I looked around the room, brushing my fingertips over the polished wood of a cabinet as I went. This was a room that definitely fit in with my districts label of 'Luxury'. It didn't feel right that I should get to sit on such expensive looking seats, so instead I went over to the window and looked out over my district. Was this really the last chance I would get to see my home?

I scanned the whole view, looking for the familiar building that I had called home for the last seventeen years, only to come up with nothing. I was on the wrong side of the building, and I would probably never get another chance to say goodbye to my home.

I sank down to the floor, hiding my face on my hands as the realisation kicked in. Did this mean that I would never get to see my mother again? That I would never get to see her smile, or hear her remind me to behave?

After a few minutes of complete silence – a few minutes that seemed to drag on forever – I finally heard the door open. I didn't move from my position though, I didn't even look up. I automatically assumed it was merely the Peacekeepers coming back to move me to the next place.

So, of course I was surprised when I felt familiar arms wrap around me. "Be strong, Topaz." was whispered into my ear.

I nodded slightly and lifted my head up to see my mothers smile – that one smile that I really needed right now. I always had to admire how strong this woman was. Even after losing my father not long ago and the fact that she was more than likely losing me now too – her only child – she still managed to hold that smile in place. I knew why she held it there, and it was not because she didn't care. It was because she thought she had to stay strong to keep me and others going. I didn't dare think what would happen to her once I was gone. She would have no one left. Who would she keep that smile up for? Or would the smile leave with me?

"I will. I promise I will try my hardest to." I whispered back before throwing my arms around her and drawing her into a big hug.

She stepped back after a while, pulling me to stand up with her. She led me over to a gorgeous leather sofa and sat me down. "Now, you have to do everything that they tell you to do." She started, but I cut in.

"I know." I said with a slight roll of my eyes.

"I'm being serious, Topaz." She said, looking me in the eyes, her expression suddenly serious. "You have to do everything. No messing around out there; just be a good girl for me. I want you to stand every chance of coming home to me, and if behaving is part of that, then do it!" She told me before hugging me and standing up.

"Mum?" I said after a second's silence. "I love you..." I whispered and stood up as well.

"I know you do, sweetheart. I'll always remember that." Her smile slid onto her face again before the Peacekeepers came back into the room. "Goodbye, Topaz. You make sure you come home to me." She said before being escorted out.

"I promise, I will." I whispered, even though the door was shut and she would never hear it.

I sighed and sat back down in the seat my mother had led me to, running a hand through my hair. At least I had a chance to say goodbye to the one person who mattered. I doubted anyone else would come; it was not exactly like I was close to anyone else. It was just me and my mum against the world now. Well... not anymore. Now it was just me and just her. Two separate people at two different parts of the country. I really hated the Capitol for this. Did they really want everyone to be by themselves? For all of the districts to have no body left that they cared about? I suppose that would make it easier for them to control us, but they were bloody good enough at that already!

After another few moments of being left alone in the room, the door finally opened again, it wasn't any visitors to say goodbye this time though. No, this time it was just another group of Peacekeepers. I guess I was right when I said I hadn't made many friends over the years. I was probably going to die, and only my mother came to see me. Was I that unimportant to the rest of my district?

The Peacekeepers surrounded me again, forcing me to walk out of the room and then out of the building. I barely managed to catch glimpses of my district though as they led me straight to the train station. I caught a glance every now and then through their arms. From what I saw everyone had disappeared inside, and they merely peeked out through the curtains to see the Peacekeepers taking me away.

They walked me straight up to the door of the train, and it was only once we had reached that they finally parted to let me move in front of them. Then as soon as I was on the train the door slammed shut behind me, blocking any view of my district.

The train started to move just after the doors closed, so I guessed I was the last person to get there. They must have moved Cutter before me. I rushed to the back of the train as quickly as I could, pushing the window open just in time to see my district disappear into the distance.


	3. Chapter 2 - District Two

[Cougar Jenkins' P.O.V]

I stared up at the large banner that was being hung from the justice building, telling anyone who would be watching later which district we were. Yes, we were proud. Who wouldn't be proud of being from district two?

District two was, without a doubt, the best district to be in. Some of my district used to be jealous of those in number thirteen; they always had been the favourites of the Capitol apparently. But then they went and defied the Capitol and started the war that killed thousands. If you ask me, then yes, they deserved to be blown up. Especially since that meant that we were the new favourites. We deserved it more than they did anyway. We were more loyal to the Capitol, sure we joined in with the war eventually, but that was only because we were forced into it! My district may be fighters and may be strong, but that doesn't mean that we wanted that war. If it wasn't for those thirteen's then we would not have lost so many of our own. It was entirely their fault!

"Cougar!" I turned as my name was shouted, dragging me out of my thoughts, I automatically prepared myself for a fight. I relaxed though once I realised who it was.

"Hey, Cricket. What have I told you about doing that?" I said, my expression softening as I saw one of my younger sisters running towards me. I automatically opened my arms as she ran into me, hugging her tightly.

Sure, we were fighters, but family was a whole different matter. I loved my family and nothing would stop me from protecting my little sisters. It was my job, what was so wrong about that? If anybody hurt them – physically, mentally or whatever – then they would have me to deal with.

She giggled slightly and pulled away to look at me. "Do what, big brother?" She said with a big grin. Sometimes it was hard to believe that she was fourteen, it probably didn't help that she even managed to look younger though as well as acting it.

I rolled my eyes at her, as if she didn't know. "Creep up on me like that, you know it isn't safe." I told her as I crossed my arms, looking down at her.

"You should know the sound of my voice by now though!" She stared up at me, trying to pretend she was hurt. I was too used to that routine though. "Anyway..." She carried on after a moment in her usual sing song voice. "Mummy said you need to go and get ready right now!"

I glanced down at my outfit of dark jeans and an old tee. "What's wrong with what I'm wearing now?"

She giggled again as she said. "You need to look smart. And you, big brother, do not look smart. Now come on!" She grabbed my hand as she finished speaking, trying to pull me back to the house.

I chuckled and stood still, watching her try to pull me for a minute, before finally moving. I picked her up and threw her over my shoulder as I walked, her small body being more than easy to carry. "I think we need to feed you more, Cricket." I said as I tickled her slightly, causing her to wiggle.

"Do not! Now put me down! You'll drop me if you aren't careful." She said as she settled down over my shoulder, obviously giving up.

I laughed and broke out into a jog, heading straight for our home. I stopped by the door and pushed it open, only putting Cricket down once we were inside and the door was shut again. As soon as her feet touched the floor she was off again, running up the stairs. Did that girl ever actually stop for a minute?

I chuckled to myself and headed into the kitchen where my parents and the youngest of my family were. I ruffled my youngest sister's hair and kissed my mums cheek.

"Cougar, I washed your clothes this morning. They're upstairs in your room." My mum said as she fussed around some dishes. "Then as soon as you are ready you can have some nice breakfast." She glanced back at me and smiled, before making herself busy with whatever she was doing now.

My youngest sister jumped down from her chair when I went to leave and ran in front of me, looking sad. I stopped at the door and crouched down to her height. "What's wrong, Dew?" I asked, frowning slightly.

"Where's Mittens?" She asked, talking about the small black and white cat that we found and let her keep nearly two years ago. She was our cat really, I fed her and Dew played with her, that was how things had started and then we just hadn't changed it. We got used to our little routine; it was just something that had settled into our lives quite easily and then never left.

I gave her a smile and took her small hand in mine, standing up straight again. "Why don't we go find her?" I said and she nodded. "I think... I saw her upstairs earlier. Want to try there?"

She nodded again and walked next to me towards the stairs. Once we were at the stairs she held my hand tighter and looked up at me with a big grin, before starting to jump up the stairs. I laughed and followed behind her, making sure to keep hold of her hand so that I could easily hold her up if she slipped.

"You'll hurt yourself one day you know, if you keep jumping up those stairs." I told her when we reached the top.

She simply shook her head at me and said "I won't, you'll always be here to save me." She then gave me a sweet smile and skipped off down the corridor, dropping my hand as she went.

I chuckled and walked after her. I didn't think anything of what she said; of course I would always be here with her. It was my job to pick her up and make her smile, and that was not a job that I was going to give up any time soon.

I stopped behind her, watching as her bright green eyes flicked all around the hall and then up to me. "Where is she, Cougar?" She asked.

I smiled and took her hand again, already knowing exactly where the small cat would be. "Come on, I think I know where we can look." I told her before leading her towards my room.

It was just after breakfast time for the cat, so the little creature would be sleeping the food off. And her favourite place to sleep was normally my room. She should have had a good hour by now; it was more than time to send Dew in to wake her up.

She pushed my door open as soon as we reached it, and ran in ahead of me.

I laughed as she managed to miss the fluffy lump by my pillow and went straight to the small cat bed in the corner. Mittens never used the cat bed, she much preferred my warm pillow, but that didn't ever seem to stop Dew from trying to get her to use it.

Walking over to my bed I laughed as she picked up the cat bed and shook it around, she was acting as if Mittens had somehow squeezed herself into the fabric and hidden there. I sat down next to the cat just as Dew turned around, successfully hiding the small creature from sight in time.

"She isn't here!" Dew told me as if I had not realised that already.

I smiled and held my arms open for her. "Come here and give me a hug, I have something to show you."

Of course she jumped straight onto my lap and wrapped her small arms as far around me as she could manage. She looked up at me, an excited grin plastered on her face. "What is it? Is it a present?"

I shook my head, grinning at her. "No..." Unwrapping one arm from her, I reached behind myself and scooped the cat up, moving her around to the front to show Dew. "I believe you were looking for this."

Dew giggled and wrapped the cat in her arms, squishing the poor thing in the process. Mittens was more than used to that by now though, and just accepted that it was that time of day. I could just imagine her shooting me dark looks though.

"Go on, go take her to your room and play. I still need to get dressed." I told Dew as I lifted her off my lap. As soon as her feet were on the floor, she was off towards the door, Mittens' back paws dangling down with the way she was being held.

I stood up and quickly shut my door behind her, before turning to my wardrobe and pulling the doors opens. There was the outfit that my mum seemed to expect me to wear, which I wouldn't be wearing, of course. I refused to wear a proper suit, even if it was the last thing I had left to wear. It wasn't like me to wear one and that wasn't about to change, as I had told my parents plenty of times before. They still never listened to me though; either that or they just thought that I was joking.

I did claim the dark grey shirt from that set though. I just didn't match it with the dark trousers and unpleasant brown dress shoes like it was supposed to be though. Instead I grabbed some dark jeans and left the shirt hanging out over them. I then slipped my feet into some plain black shoes and headed down the stairs.

At the bottom I nearly bumped straight into Cricket, luckily I looked were I was walking just in time to avoid her. She didn't even seem to bother that she had nearly crashed; she just continued to run around the house, apparently looking for her favourite pink headband.

I rolled my eyes at my sister's apparent large amount of energy and headed back to the kitchen, where my mum took a minute to stand and frown at me.

"You couldn't just wear what I had out for you, could you?" She sighed after a silence.

I simply shrugged and sat down next to dad, who was still hidden behind a newspaper. "I don't like suits." I told them once again as my two sisters ran into the room, one behind the other. Dew jumped straight onto my lap and tried to steal the breakfast that my mum put down for me. "Hands off the food, little monster."

She just rolled her eyes at me and did what she did every breakfast, stole one of my pieces of toast. That didn't really make much of a difference to my breakfast though, we were district two and we had more food than the majority of the other districts. So letting my baby sister take one piece of toast from me wasn't exactly going to cause me to starve. I just let her sit on my lap as I ate; she was happily munching away at the piece of toast.

When she reached for my last piece of bacon though, that was where I drew the line. I picked her up off my lap before she could wrap her hand around it and then placed her down on the floor. She pouted at me before shrugging and running out of the room, shouting "Cougar's a big meanie bum!" at the top of her little five year old voice.

I simply chuckled and finished the rest of my breakfast, finishing just as a knock echoed down the hall from the door.

"I'll get it!" I said as I jumped up and walked to the door.

I opened it and looked down, seeing the familiar face of my sister's best friend. I smiled and leaned against the doorframe. "Hello, Stranger. Something I can help you with?" I teased.

She looked at me, raising one of her eyebrows. "Stop messing with me, Cougar!" She demanded, staring up at me. "Is Cricket here? She said she would walk with me to this Capitol thing."

I shook my head, still teasing her slightly. "She left earlier, sorry Cayenne." Just as I got that sentence out, Cricket herself came running down the stairs and heard me say her best friend's name.

"Cayenne? Cayenne's here!" she shouted to the rest of the house before squeezing her way past me.

"I thought you said she wasn't here." Cayenne said to me as she stuck her tongue out at me.

I simply rolled my eyes before turning to my little sister. "You, don't leave without telling someone, okay? And Dew does not count."

She sighed and waved a hand to say she understood, so I turned back to Cayenne.

"I'm trusting that you'll get her there safely and on time. Don't break that trust." And with that I turned around and disappeared back into the kitchen.

As soon as I got there I told my parents that it was just Cricket's friend at the door, even though I guessed they had figured that out from her shouting. Just as I managed to get that out, Cricket shouted through to the rest of the house again.

"I'm going with Cayenne now! Bye-bye Mummy, Daddy, I will see you later!" She called in her sing-song voice. Cricket really was the most innocent fourteen year old that you could find. Especially around District two. We supplied the Capitol with weapons, with Peacekeepers even, so of course we were going to take that and teach ourselves how to protect each other. Not that we would pick up and fight against the Capitol, but you can never be too sure. Anyway, it would be a waste of materials to not test them out.

Not long after those two left my mum went up and got herself ready, appearing fifteen minutes later with a wriggling Dew on her hip. I raised an eyebrow as I watched Dew pick at the frilly dress that she had been forced to wear.

"Is something wrong over there, little monster?" I teased, only getting a glare from both her and my mum. "What?" I said, trying to sound innocent.

"Don't tease your sister, Cougar." Dad said, spotting my mums unhappy look.

"How come he can wear what he wants but I get this?" Dew said in her little voice, throwing herself into the conversation.

"Simple." I said, walking over to her. I slipped my arms around her and quickly stole her from mum. She stopped wiggling for a moment as she waited for the answer. "I'm older." I said after a teasingly long minutes pause. She simply pouted up at me as if to say 'that's not fair', and then went back to her wiggling. Anyone would think that she believed she could wiggle her way out of the dress.

But of course that brought my parents back to the fact that I was not wearing the clothes that I was supposed to. By the time they finally gave up for the second time, it was time for us to be leaving.

I ended up keeping hold of Dew for the walk back to the justice building, by the time we were half way there she had already fallen asleep in my arms. I shifted her slightly in my arms, making her more comfortable but trying not to wake her up. Of course she didn't wake up, she just snuggled herself against my chest and kept sleeping. I smiled, glancing down at her every now and then as I walked.

I heard my mum gasp as we reached the area we were supposed to be gathering. There had to be thousands of people crammed into the surrounding area. Did the other districts have as many citizens as us? I looked down at Dew to check the noise had not woken her up, then after seeing she was still peacefully sleeping, I looked around.

It appeared that they were separating certain people and forcing them into the actual square by the base of one of the largest mountains in the district. I looked around, taking note of who was being placed there. And since I was too busy focusing on my thoughts and trying to figure out what was going on, I missed what my dad was saying.

Eventually my dad's voice pulled me away from my thoughts though. "Cougar? Are you even listening to me, Cougar?"

"What?" I said slightly confused as I looked over at them. "Do you have any idea what's going on?" I asked them, not bothering to find out what they had been saying before.

"If you had been listening, son, then you would know." My dad sighed and shook his head. "They're splitting us up, all of those between twelve and eighteen are to go down into the square."

"Give us Dew and then we will see you later. We're having dinner early tonight; make sure you're on time. And find Cricket, make sure she's okay." Mum added as dad held his arms out for my little sister.

I carefully moved Dew over into his arms before kissing my mum on the cheek. "See you later then." I told my two parents and sleeping sister before turning around and following the rest of the teenagers towards the square.

I followed the crowds until I found myself being sorted into a line in front of one of several desks. I waited silently in my line, slowly working my way to the front.

As soon as there was only one person in front of me, I looked over the shoulder of the young boy in front of me. It was not exactly hard to see what was going on, the kid must have been only about twelve or thirteen.

From what I saw the man at the desk was writing down the kids name and then appeared to grab their finger, jabbing it quickly and squeezing a drop of blood onto the paper. Okay, this was slightly creepy... I have never said anything bad about the Capitol, not that I remember anyway, but this was weird for anyone. They were taking our blood, for Merlin's sake!

I frowned slightly at the sight of the blood staining the white page, but I still remained quiet and stepped up to the front once the kid had moved away.

I quickly gave the man at the desk my name when he asked for it and then held out my hand without giving him a chance to say anything else. He looked slightly shocked but then proceeded to jab my hand anyway.

Once he was done a Peacekeeper appeared from what seemed to be nowhere and grabbed my arm. I shrugged out of his grip but still followed him to where I was supposed to go next. He led me towards the very centre of the area.

There was a long pathway running down the centre, a red carpet running the distance of it. Either sides of the path there was red rope with large areas in each section. With each section there was a sign attached to the rope, each one indicating the gender and age of those in the area.

I raised an eyebrow and left the Peacekeeper behind, heading straight for the section that was second to the back of the boys' side.

"MALE – SEVENTEEN"

I ducked under the rope and then looked around at the familiar faces of other boys my age, people from my classes at the school. I had grown up with these people. But other than giving a few of them a slight nod of the head, I did not acknowledge them. Instead I turned my attention to the other side of the carpet and scanned the crowd in the fourteen year old, female section for my little sister.

She was not there yet, and neither was Cayenne. I sighed to myself as the crowds coming into the area grew smaller and smaller, until finally they stopped coming.

I managed to ignore the loud buzz of chatter that was filling the air; I did not care to hear what people were saying. I just had to find out where my sister was, maybe I had missed her and she was already hidden away in the crowd of her group. That was possible after all.

By the time the mayor of my district appeared on the stage, I had talked myself into believing that she was already there. She had to be, she had set off before us so surely she would have arrived before us. That means that she would have been hidden away in the crowd before I even got here. I'd just missed her, yeah.

I sighed, barely listening to the mayor as he introduced someone from the Capitol. I looked up at the stage again, only to find a woman dressed in a bright yellow dress, that if it wasn't for the skirt flying out at the bottom like a light shade, then I would have been sure that it had just been painted on to her body. Bloody hell... I had to admit, she didn't have a bad figure though.

Dragging my eyes away from the yellow of the dress I looked over the rest of the Capitol woman. She had hair that was just a couple of shades duller than her dress piled up on top of her head, a few little ringlets falling down. I took in her high heeled shoes that appeared to be the exact colour of her hair, before smiling slightly. She seriously liked the colour yellow. I started to listen as this woman in yellow started to speak.

"Welcome to our most praised district! Even though you are our most loyal, I am afraid to say that those other... less mannered districts have put you all in a spot of trouble back in the Capitol." She started with a smile, speaking into the microphone. "You see, after that little... hiccup in our proud history, we at the Capitol have come up with a little way to keep you in line." She paused for a minute, a smirk slowly working its way over her features before she opened her mouth again to shout out to the crowd.

"Welcome! To the first annual Hunger Games!"

I looked around at the other confused faces of my district. What did they mean, 'Hunger Games'? I frowned slightly though as I looked through the crowd of adults, seeing the looks of boredom and recognition on some of their faces. Did some of them already know about this? As I caught sight of the recognition on my own fathers face, my frown grew deeper into my features. Why would he not tell us if he knew what was happening?

"Now... The Hunger Games." She started again, a smirk still playing on her lips. "I believe this will be something of great significance to your district. An event that will bring great honour on whoever wins." She paused again for a second, "Yes... great significance indeed."

I looked around at the others that were occupying my pen, my eyebrows raised in question. But no one else seemed to understand what she was saying either. What were these 'Hunger Games' and how would it bring about that much honour?

"Before we go into more detail about what will be happening, let us find out who your tributes will be." She walked over towards one of the bowls that was at the front of the stage, that smirk still tugging at her lips. That smirk was starting to get to me. What did this woman know? What were they planning? Surely if it had pulled this much attention then it was big.

The Capitol woman plucked one of the many pieces of paper from the first bowl, keeping the small white piece held between two of her nails. Yellow nails, of course... "Boys first, I believe."

She walked back to the microphone at the centre of the stage, although we could hear her perfectly well where she was. It was all just for the show. She flicked her eyes towards the boys side of the area as she slowly unfolded the slip. She was really taking her time.

"Lupine Fox!" She called out, her voice ringing clearly through square and surrounding streets.

A few moments after she had called the name, a small boy started to take the walk up to the stage. He had come from the twelve year old section. There was no way that this little boy was going to bring any sort of honour to our district. His knees were already shaking and you could see that tears were threatening to fall down already. The kid did not even know what he would be doing yet!

"Welcome, Lupine! Now... before we officially name him as one of your tributes, would anyone like to offer themselves up to take his place? Remember the honour and glory that will come if you succeed in the games!" The Capitol woman kept speaking, her eyes still trained on the boys area instead of the young boy next to her.

I frowned ever so slightly as I watched, my brain thinking things over quickly. This boy couldn't bring the honour to our district but maybe someone bigger could. Someone stronger... Maybe I could be that person. And if I was then surely that would mean great things for my family as well. Surely it would mean that I could help to provide Dew and Cricket with an even better standard of living. Maybe it could mean that I would be able to protect them even better.

Before I was fully aware of what I was doing I was stood on the red carpet, looking up at the stage. "I volunteer!" I called up to the stage, my eyes on the woman in yellow. I kept walking up to the stage; I could feel everyone's eyes on me. I did not speak again until I was on the actual stage. "I volunteer as tribute." I said calmly.

"Well... Isn't this a nice little surprise?" The woman said, that smirk growing as she looked me up and down. "A volunteer during the first ever games! Yes, I believe your district will not be letting our expectations down." She kept her eyes on me for a moment, before the young boy called Lupine caught her attention again. She frowned slightly at him. "You can go now... Go on." She said to him. Lupine did not need anyone to tell him twice. He took the stairs of the stage two at a time and then dived back into his section to hide between the other children.

I looked towards where I saw my parents earlier, frowning when I saw my father trying to hide how scared he looked. I wondered what was wrong with him before it clicked that he knew what was happening. He knew exactly what the games were while I didn't. I had no idea what I was signing up for and from the look on my dads face, it was bad. How stupid could I be? How reckless? I had no idea what these games meant and yet I had still stepped forward...

I kept my eyes facing forward, looking straight down the red carpet as the woman – I really should have paid attention to her name – walked over to what I guessed was the girls bowl. She plunged her hand deeper into the bowl than the last time, plucking out a slip that seemed identical to the last. I knew it wasn't though - this one would have one of the many girls names on it instead.

The woman in yellow unfolded the piece of paper once she was back at the microphone again. "And our girl for this year will be... Cayenne Tabor!"

Cayenne... my little Cricket's best friend...

I looked towards the fourteen year old section but it was pointless. The two of them were nowhere to be seen. I told them to make sure they were on time! Cayenne knew that there would be punishments for those who didn't show up, yet she had still dragged Cricket off somewhere!

I frowned to myself, about to tell the woman that Cayenne was not here yet when the two of them came to a running stop at the other end of the walkway. Both of them had mud on their dresses and I could just about make out a rip in Cricket's tights. Cricket was gripping a handful of flowers. So that was what they were doing. The two of them looked around with big eyes, they had no idea what was going on.

I sighed and walked towards the Capitol woman, tapping on her shoulder so that I could whisper to her, "That's Cayenne over there, the one without the flowers." I told her and then walked back to where I was stood before as she nodded.

"Cayenne Tabor?" She asked, talking directly to the brown haired girl. "Up here, please. You have been chosen." She smirked again and I was sure that she was actually trying to scare the fourteen year old.

Little Cayenne was tougher than that though, she wasn't going to give the Capitol woman the satisfaction of being scared, even if she had no idea what was actually going on. She made her way up the carpet towards the stairs, only stopping to direct Cricket into the fourteen year old pen on her way. Cricket had been trying to follow her up the rest of the way, she had no idea what was going on.

Once Cayenne was up on the stage the woman started to talk about the great honour again and then asked if anyone wanted to volunteer to take Cayenne's place. No one did. No one was wiling to stand up volunteer, to try to earn the glory for the district. I guess no one was a stupid as me then. We still did not know what the Hunger Games meant after all.

While the woman was busy, I nodded for Cayenne to come and stand near me, she did of course.

"Hey, short stuff. I thought I said make sure you're on time." I whispered to her, barely glancing over at her.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw her look up at me. "Cricket wanted to pick some flowers, lost track of the time." She whispered back. Of course... of course Cricket would want to pick flowers instead of actually listening to me and being on time. I was still going to have to blame Cayenne though, that was just how we worked.

"If she gets into trouble for being late then I'm blaming you." I whispered, keeping my eyes forward. This girl knew how serious I was about my family; she knew perfectly well that if anything was to happen to either of my little sisters then I would never let anyone get away with it.

"I don't doubt you there." She muttered. I could see from the corner of my eye that she was copying me and keeping her eyes forward, a smile on her face.

I fought the urge to roll my eyes at her and instead started to focus on what the Capitol woman was saying.

"As I have told you twenty-three tributes will go in, but here is the twist!" She said, pausing as she looked around the square. "Only one will come out!" She grinned out at the audience, obviously believing that this was some brilliant idea that the Capitol had come up with.

And then it clicked what that meant. Only one tribute would be going back home and I was up against my little sisters best friend. Innocent little Cricket would never understand this... What if it was left to me to murder her best friend? And with this being the Capitol in charge I just knew that they would force everyone to watch at home. Would that mean that my little sister may have to watch me kill her best friend? Or, if the worst comes, then my whole family may watch me be murdered?

I could never let that happen! I had to fight my way through this. I had to win. Even if it meant that Cricket would lose her best friend, I still had to win. I refuse to let my family watch someone kill me. I could never make my little Dew or Cricket suffer through that.

I tuned out for the rest of the speech, already trying to figure out how I could avoid hurting Cayenne yet still get home to my sisters. I didn't even realise it had finished until the same girl whose death I was thinking about nudged me. Time to go, I guess.

I followed the Capitol woman down the steps at the back of the stage and headed into the Justice building. As soon as we were through the doors a dozen or so Peacekeepers surrounded us, splitting me and Cayenne up.

While they led me one way, I looked back and saw that Cayenne actually looked scared for once as they took her the opposite way. Right then I felt sorry for her. I truly did. She was only fourteen and she was being sent to what was probably going to be her death.

I looked away and tried to forget about that for the moment, I had to focus on myself. I could not let myself end up dead just because I was focusing on someone else, just because I was feeling sorry for them.

The Peacekeepers that had been leading me pushed me into a large room and then shut the door behind me. I sighed and brushed myself off before going and sitting on one of the more comfy looking couches. I may as well make myself comfy if they are going to keep me looked up in here.

I must have been sat there for about five minutes before the door opened again and I heard the all too familiar voices of my two little sisters shouting my name.

"Cougar!" They shouted in unison as the two of them came running towards me. Both of them jumped on me at the same time, wrapping their arms around me. It was amazing how similar my fourteen year old sister was to my five year old one.

Dew wrapped her arms around my neck, tears pouring down her cheeks. "Please don't leave me." She whispered to me.

I bit my lip and wrapped my arms around both of my sisters. I refused to let any tears fall; I had to be strong for these two. I had to give them some hope that I would be coming back home.

I kissed the top of both of their heads as I whispered to them. "It won't be forever. You'll see me again. You know I could never leave you two." I looked up as the two of them hugged me tightly – it was as if they were never going to let go.

I had not noticed my mum come in with my two sisters, but she was sat on the couch next to us anyway. I gave her a small smile and said. "I'll try my hardest, mum... I promise."

She nodded and wiped her eyes. I think she realised that I would be spending most of this time with my little sisters. I had to try to make them understand...

I turned to Cricket first, just as she pulled away slightly to look up at me. "Hey." I whispered to her. "You know I love you, right?" She nodded. "And you heard what that silly banana lady said, right?"

She nodded again, this time giggling a little at what I called the Capitol woman. "She said that they're taking you to the Capitol. A-and that only one will come home." She frowned and looked up at me with her big eyes. "What did you do? Why are they taking you away?"

All I can do is shake my head slightly. "I didn't do anything. I just got picked to go." I had to be careful what I said to her, she might repeat something after all and I can't have her getting into trouble for that.

She thought about that for a minute before whispering, "Cougar? You know they're taking Cayenne as well, right? Will you look after her for me?" That was the most grown up that I think I've ever heard her.

There was no way that I could just tell her no and say that I was just going to leave her best friend to be killed, so instead I nodded.

"Promise?"

And I had no choice but to nod again and mumble, "I promise."

I then kissed her forehead and shifted her over so that she was sat inbetween me and our mum. I still needed to say my goodbyes to Dew.

I brushed her hair out of her face so that I could see her properly; tears were still silently falling down her cheeks. "Hey, Dew?" I carefully wiped a couple of her tears away. "Don't cry, Princess." I told her.

She looked up at me, her bottom lip trembling. "You're leaving me." She said.

"Only for a little while..." I said back, avoiding the fact that I may never actually come home. "You need to be a big girl for me, okay?"

She nodded slightly and whispered, "Okay." But I felt her clinging to the back of my shirt tighter. It was going to be a lot harder than I ever thought possible to get her to let go of me. She was stubborn and there was no way that she was just going to let them take me away from her that easily.

"Promise me you'll feed our little Mittens, okay? I need you to do that for me every day." I told her, trying to get her away from talking about me leaving.

She nodded. "I promise I will!" She said.

"That's my good girl." I whispered as I hugged her back tightly. I could hear the door being opened and I knew that it wasn't just Dew who would have a hard time letting go.

"Cougar?" That was my mum again. "Cougar, we have to go now, darling." She said, speaking softly to me.

"Okay..." I nodded, still not letting go of my youngest sister. "Mum? You won't let anyone hurt them, right?"

"Of course I won't." But I knew that even she couldn't keep that. It was me that would be hurting them next after all. Either by killing someone or by being murdered myself. But neither of us said that. Instead she just walked out of the door, knowing that I would send these two out after her.

"Bye big brother." Cricket said as she followed out mum. I couldn't help but notice that the sing-song tune that she normally spoke with was gone. What had I done by volunteering? Had it already affected Cricket that much?

Then it was just Dew left. I stood up with her still in my arms and whispered to her, "Goodbye..." before I handed her over to the Peacekeepers who then handed her to my mum.

And then the door was shut again and I realised that my dad had not bothered to come and say goodbye.


	4. Chapter 3 - District Three

**[Coal Whittaker's P.O.V]**

The basement of my house has to be my favourite place to be. I have basically grown up down here with my dad. It's full of all kinds of gadgets and weird little electric toys that my dad and I have made. The basement is my safe place. Its quiet which is just how I like it and its one of the only places were I can just be myself. So of course it was only natural that my dad and I were down there the morning that the Capitol wanted us all to gather in the town square.

I didn't know what it was that the Capitol wanted to do to us exactly, but it was simple enough to tell that they wanted to punish us somehow for the war that we unfortunately lost against them not that long ago. That was what the Capitol liked to do, punish us and show us how much better they are. But truthfully they are just idiots.

Sure they managed to win the war, but that was only because they had mountains protecting them. If it was not for that then they would have lost. There was no way that the Capitol could have won if it was not for them. They were too stupid to win any other way. They were just lucky. And now I knew that they were going to make us suffer for it.

I glanced over at my dad and smiled to myself. His glasses were falling down his nose and he was peering at a small gadget through a magnifying glass. That was the way that I saw my dad. With his clothes wrinkled from working through the night and a thoughtful expression on his face.

I turned my attention back to what I was working on; it was not the most impressive of projects, I was simply fixing up an old watch so that it was more useful than simply telling the time. At the moment I had it working so that I could get not only the time flashing up in a hologram, but also the date, the face of a compass so that one could tell which way was north, and a little notepad type of thing that I could type things into and record important pieces of information. There were some things that were simply too important to risk forgetting after all.

At the moment I was working on trying to get it to hold a picture as well, but it was harder than I expected it to be. The watch itself seemed to be filling up too much with what I already had it set to do. And I was starting to think that I was going to have to go the long way around it all. I was hoping not to have to do that. I did not like going the long way around things to get them to work.

I frowned at the small watch before shifting around a few wires and turning on one of the computers that we had running down here. My family had the money to afford these things, so of course my dad had gone ahead and done so.

I pushed my sleeves up my arms further before carefully connecting the wires from the computer to the watch. I glanced up at the computer screen as a number of boxes popped up on it. Each one was already full with a complicated code.

I tapped the screen a couple of times before moving a scanner over the watch. I cleared a few things away from around the little object and then pressed the button so that the scanner jumped to life. Flicking my eyes back up to the screen as a diagram of the screen started to load.

As soon as the whole image was there I moved closer to the screen and started to tap away at the screen, dragging a few things around until I was happy. Finally I seemed to have everything set up and fitting in.

While I had it all connected I thought I may as well load an image into it, so once again I set to work tapping away until I had found the best image and dragged it into the correct little box, setting it so that it was stored in the memory.

I double checked to make sure that everything was saved properly into the watch before disconnecting the wires and switching off the computer and scanner. That wasn't that hard.

I fastened the wrist to my watch, just in time too since my mothers' loud voice came booming down the stairs nearly as soon as the clip was fastened. "Coal! Get up here already! You need to look smart!"

That did not really make much sense, I was smart already. There was no need to dress up to be that, in fact dressing up didn't matter. When it came to being smart it really was the inside that mattered.

I glanced over at dad just as he glanced at me. He raised an eyebrow at me and I simply shrugged before walking up the stairs. We never did talk much.

I slowly made my way up the stairs, knowing that my mother would be running around upstairs and wanting so much to avoid that. Believe me, I did love the woman, but she was just too much sometimes. I preferred the quiet and the calm and she was anything but that.

I was right of course, nearly as soon as I had stepped away from the stairs she was there.

"Did you have fun down in your little lab, Coal?" She said, smiling brightly at me.

I nodded, not even bothering to try to explain what goes on down there. Out of the two of them, my dad had the brains and mum the social skills. Luckily for me – depending on how you look at it – I followed after my dad. I'm pretty sure the only differences between us were about twenty-two years, a few grey hairs and his glasses. That was it.

"I put your clothes in your room, darling." She said before heading off to make herself busy with something else.

I headed up to the top floor of our house and into my bedroom. My room was not exactly what you expected from someone my room. It was tidy except for the odd little creation that I had scattered around. Some were sitting on shelves or between books on my bookshelf, but occasionally there was the odd one that had been left on the floor with a few little pieces scattered around it just waiting to be finished. I really did need to finish them all at some point... It was just sad having a bunch of half finished pieces lying around, abandoned.

I shook my head slightly and walked over to my bed since that was where my mum had left my clothes. Neatly folded even though I would be putting them on straight away and then it wasn't like they would be out in the open for long. I really did not see the point in folding clothes that neatly. Did we really have to try that hard to impress the Capitol? The Capitol that had killed a lot of our loved ones during the war and enjoyed leaving half of the country in poverty – did we really need to impress them? And was the only way to do that really with clothes? It was ridiculous.

I unfolded the clothes before stripping off and pulling the white shirt and black pants on. It was simple, so that was something at least. I fastened the buttons before grabbing the thin black tie and fastening it around my neck.

I glanced in the tiny bit of the mirror that was actually visible around the piles of books and frowned slightly. My mum would probably attack me with a comb herself if I didn't do it. So I rooted around for a comb and finally found one under one of my many books.

I quickly ran it through my hair so that it was not as much of a mess on top of my head; I had a habit of running my hand through my hair whenever I got to a particularly troubling part in my creations, so of course it was a mess by this point in the day, I had been down there since before the sun had actually rose this morning.

I then dropped the comb on top of my desk and headed for the door. I had barely got out of my room before my mum appeared out of what seemed like nowhere and threw a waistcoat at me.

"Put this on!" She said before she was gone again. Honestly... that woman...

I sighed quietly and pulled it on over my shirt, I had a feeling this was going to be a long day. And all I wanted to do was disappear back into the basement with my dad.

I walked down the stairs slowly, worrying that my mum would just pop up again and scare me to death. Once I got to the bottom safely I glanced around before walking over to the stairs leading to the basement. "Dad?" I called down.

He appeared at the bottom of them, still holding that little object in his hand.

"I'm going to head off now, are you coming?"

He nodded before disappearing back into the depths of the basement, probably to put his things away. My dad liked to try to keep it at least a bit organised down there, me on the other hand... well... lets just say that when it came to that basement I was not the neatest of workers.

I leaned against the wall as I waited for him, my mum appearing from the door to the kitchen.

"See? It was not that hard to dress up nice, was it?" She said, smiling at me.

I shook my head just to make her happy. I really did not see why we had to dress up for the Capitol. It was like everything was just a game and they were our puppet masters or something of the sort. It was ridiculous how easily they could manipulate the country into doing what they wanted. And it was extremely stupid that they thought they would be able to get away with constantly manipulating us. They had lost a lot of their own in the war and they were much more idiotic than even I had labelled them as if they thought that pushing us to be their little slaves or pets would not end up in another war. And it would be an even bigger war than last time. And of course we would have learned our lesson the next time around, we would not put ourselves through the same failure.

I shifted so that I was stood up away from the wall when I heard my dad making his way up the basement stairs. I may as well be ready to leave straight away, I could tell just from a glance that my mum was itching to go and find some proper 'human interaction'. She did end up getting fairly annoyed with my fathers silence and mine did not make it much better either. I still was not actually sure how those two had ended up together; they were pretty much complete opposites of each other after all. I know that some people say that opposites attract but surely my parents were pushing it.

I followed my parents as they headed out of the door together, the three of us trudging through the plain streets towards the town square. I wasn't exactly sure why they called it that – the district was too big to be called a town; wouldn't district square be a more fitting name?

I glanced around at the streets as we walked; our district was just about fixed up from the war, in fact just from a glance it was like there had never even been a war at all. The only way you could really tell was by the pained expressions that most of the district wore or by the spaces at family dinner tables.

The district square, as I was going to call it from now on, had been roped off and only certain people were being led past those ropes into the actual square. Just from a quick scan of the crowds I could tell that they were putting all of the teenagers there, so it was not hard to figure out that I would be put there as well. I glanced over at my parents before heading over to one of the many lines.

When I glanced back I saw that both of my parents had been herded off to another one of the side streets. I guess I would just have to find them again later.

I waited patiently in the line, glancing down at my watch every now and then. Whatever the Capitol had planned was supposed to start in five minutes yet they still had not got everyone into the areas that they wanted. They could do with working on their time keeping skills really.

By the time they had got down to me there were only two minutes left and judging from all of the cameras around they were planning on broadcasting everything live to the Capitol. And that would mean that they would not be very happy if it was done late. Of course, it was us at district three that would be getting the punishment if it was late.

"Name?" A man at the desk said without even looking up at me.

"Coal Whittaker." I replied, watching him. He wasn't from the Capitol; I knew that much from his appearance. I just could not tell where he was from.

He nodded and scrawled my name on a page in a large book before putting his pen down. He then picked up a small metal object that was roughly the same shape as the pen.

"Finger." He said, obviously he had realised that there was to be no extra time for any greater explanation.

I held my finger out and he put the tip of the metal object to it. I felt a small sting in the tip of my finger as he pressed a button at the top of the pen. He had cut the tip of my finger! What the hell was the Capitol up to with all of this?

The man then grabbed my hand and pressed the cut finger down on the page under my name. They just wanted our blood? Did they not realise how weird that is?

"Age?" This was starting to get annoying. Surely they should have everyone's names and ages already?

"Sixteen." I said, still watching him.

He wrote that one last thing down before indicating for a Peacekeeper to come over. The Peacekeeper grabbed me by my arm and basically dragged me over to one of the roped off sections within the square. "Stay in there." He demanded before stalking off.

I raised my eyebrows and looked around the rest of the section. There were only sixteen year old boys in this one - that must mean that they had us sorted by age and gender. I looked over at the section directly opposite mine, that one was holding a bunch of girls and I could recognise one of my friends. That would mean that they were the sixteen year old girls. And that backed up my theory.

I looked up towards what I assumed to be the front of the area, either way it was where they had a stage set up in front of the Justice Building. There were two seats set up on the stage, along with two large bowls that seemed to be filled up to the brim with pieces of paper... What did they have planned here?

Just as I was about to ask the person next to me if they had any idea what was going on, the mayor of our little district walked up the stairs onto the stage. The short man walked straight up to the microphone, looking around nervously.

"Welcome... District three." He said with a slight shake in his voice. "May I have the h-honour of introducing to all of you miss Azizah Moon!" He was trying to keep his voice happy, but I could tell that there was something bothering him.

A woman wearing a dark red dress that clung to her upper body before falling out into a skirt that finished just above her knees, and dark heels that matched, bounced up on the stage. She appeared as if she was quite short as well, but with the added height from the heels she easily towered over our mayor. She beamed out at her audience, her long dark hair flowing out behind her as she walked towards the microphone. The mayor automatically stepped out of the way and took a seat on one of the chairs.

"Hello, District three!" The woman said, speaking much more confidently and smoothly than the mayor had. "Back at the Capitol we have devised a fun little game for two of you lucky people to take part in! One boy and one girl will be chosen from your midst to be taken to the Capitol itself! And then the two lucky people will get to take part in the first ever Hunger Games!"

There was a loud whisper that drifted through the crowd – people asking what the games were and if anyone understood what she was talking about. I stayed silent though, watching the woman up on the stage. The crowds were soon silenced by Peacekeepers anyway.

"The Hunger Games will include two young, healthy people from each district – a boy and a girl – who will all be put into one gigantic arena. And then the last one standing will win a life that they could never have dreamed of!" Azizah grinned.

It did not take long to realise what she was talking about, they wanted to kill off twenty-three young boys and girls just to show that they were in charge. They were crazy if they thought that they could get away with that without the districts biting back at some point.

"Now, I'm sure you have all noticed the new houses that have been built in your district – this new area will be known as Victors' Village and is strictly reserved for those who win the games in the future! And now that we have got all of that information out there, let's get to picking your districts first tributes!"

She walked over to one of the bowls at the front of the stage, dipping her hand into it a plucking out a single piece of paper. "Girls first, apparently!" She unfolded the paper, pausing for a moment before calling out the name.

"Juniper Leigh!" She called out to the crowd. "Juniper Leigh, come up here."

I looked over to the girls half of the square and saw a girl leaving what I assumed to be the seventeen year old area. She had dark hair and she was trying her hardest to not look scared. I did not recognise her. The girl made her way up to the stage, avoiding making eye contact with anyone.

Azizah smiled at her. "Tell me how old you are, Juniper."

"Seventeen." Juniper replied, glancing out over the crowd as if she were looking for someone. I would not be surprised if she were, she was being sent to what could be her death after all so it was only natural to want to try to find her loved ones for a goodbye.

The Capitol woman nodded before walking over to the other bowl. I kept my eyes on Juniper for a moment before following the woman. The seventeen year old didn't seem to know what to do with herself as Azizah dipped her hand into the other bowl – this one more than likely holding all of the boys' names.

She pulled out a single slip and then called out the name straight away this time.

Only this time I did not know how to react for she had just shouted my name.

I was one hundred percent positive that I was the only 'Coal Whittaker' in the district so it had to be me. Yet I still just stood there. Not moving and not reacting.

Not until one of the other boys in my section pushed me forwards slightly. "Go on... Go on, Coal." Someone said.

I looked around, blinking my eyes, to see the majority of the faces trained on me. This was real then...

I slowly put one foot in front of the other, heading up to the stage slowly. Never in my life had I had to focus this hard on walking.

I kept doing that until I reached the woman. I then remembered the cameras and figured out how much of an idiotic little wimp I looked like at the moment. And it was true, I was a wimp. But I was not an idiot. I would never accept being called an idiot.

I looked up at Azizah, noticing now that she also had dark red eye shadow on. I could not see that before since I had been so far away, but it was clear now. But it did not matter either way. Why was I noticing eye shadow? And why was that all that I could think of? Was I losing it since I had realised I would be going to what would probably be my death? Probably.

I finally managed to drag my mind away from red bloody eye shadow long enough to hear her ask how old I am. "Sixteen." I answered automatically.

She nodded and then started to babble on about some kind of leaflet with more information on it being passed around to every household later today. I did not care though; I wouldn't be there to get the leaflet. It wasn't like this leaflet would affect me all that much.

And then before I knew it Azizah was ushering me and Juniper off the stage and towards the Justice building. Was this what I would spend the rest of my life doing then? Being rushed around until I was thrown into some arena to be killed?

I let some Peacekeepers push me around once I was in the Justice building, I was too busy thinking about what was going to happen in the Capitol to care about where they were shoving me right now.

I only ended up being pushed into a fairly big room that was decorated to look good. The couch was pretty comfortable as well.

I remained sitting on the couch, deciding that I may as well sit somewhere comfortable while I wait for them to come and take me away properly. I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees as I ran the mornings events through my mind over and over again. It was like I was simply pressing rewind and replay in my mind.

Did they really believe that these Hunger Games were the only way to keep us in line? Because that was bound to just backfire on them eventually. Hell, if it was not for the fact that I was probably going to die in these games then I would bet good money that the 'games' would end up being the downfall of the Capitol.

After several long minutes of silence - the only noise having been the tapping of my foot as I waited for something to happen – the door finally opened again. Only it was not just a bunch of Peacekeepers like I expected, instead my parents were there as well.

My mum rushed over to me straight away of course, tears pouring down her cheeks. "Oh, Coal! Why are they doing this to me? My only child!" I barely had a chance to stand up before she had wrapped her arms around me in a tight hug and was sobbing away to herself.

My dad on the other hand carefully shut the door behind himself and stayed standing near there. Obviously he was giving my mother a chance to try to calm herself down before he came and said his goodbye.

I awkwardly patted my mums back, hoping she would just cry herself out. I hated that she was reacting like this, but truthfully I could not blame her. What chance did I have of coming out alive? I had never touched a weapon in my life and that was during a war was going on!

"Oh, my little Coal!" She sobbed.

Eventually my dad walked over, pulling a tissue out of his pocket. He carefully pulled mum away from me, keeping his arm around her as she took the tissue and noisily wiped her eyes and blew her nose.

"Coal?" My dad said quietly. "You're a smart boy, my son. You can win this if you put your mind to it."

I nodded, glad I was getting a bit of support from at least one of my parents.

Before I knew it the door was being opened again and Peacekeepers were in here dragging my parents away.

"Goodbye Coal!" My mum called to me as she was being dragged away. After all of those tears and it sounded like she had managed to get over it all with just that one sentence. She had said her goodbye to me, so obviously my mother had accepted that I would not be coming home. She wasn't the smartest of people, but at least she could figure that out. I knew dad had as well, but he was nice enough to make it look like he had not given up hope on me yet.

I sat back down on the couch again, running my fingers through my hair as I willed myself not to cry. I had already made myself look scared in front of the cameras, so I was refusing to be caught crying when they came back. Because I knew they would. It was just like the Capitol to film it all and broadcast it all over the country.

Once again, I did not expect the next time the door opened for people other than Peacekeepers to come running in. This time it was small group of friends from school. I guess it was nice that people other than my parents came to say goodbye...

There was only the three of them; I was not the best at talking to new people and making new friends after all so it was never likely that I would have a big group of friends. One of them was the girl that I had used to identify the sixteen year old girls pen.

They all gushed about how they didn't think it was fair that they were doing this to me to start with, but then eventually the topic turned to other things. We stopped talking about the 'reaping' (that was what the Capitol had been calling it apparently) and instead focused on the little things that we enjoyed. The smiles were not really though and I could easily tell that the laughs were being forced. They didn't want to upset me by making our last bit of time together some miserable thing where we just focused on the thing that was dragging me away from them all. And I was actually thankful for that. It helped with the whole attempt at not crying.

By the time the Peacekeepers came back to take them away again I was nearly sure that I would actually manage to not cry when they came to collect me again.

I say nearly since I could not be one hundred percent positive that my parents would not still be waiting out there, wanting to see me go.


	5. Chapter 4 - District Three Continued

**[Juniper Leigh's P.O.V]**

I had not paid attention to which boy had been reaped, I was far too busy trying to get my head around these 'Hunger Games'. Were they really sending us to fight to the death? Could they even do that?

I sat in the room that they had led me to, biting my finger nails as I waited for something to happen. And when it did, it was not what I was expecting.

My parents came in, both of them crying already. They had already lost my big brother in the war and now they were probably going to lose their only other child as well. I couldn't blame them for being upset.

I stood up from the chair that I had claimed and walked over to them. I was not going to let their tears effect me, I had long since learned that crying was pointless after all. It did not get you anywhere and it just made you look weak.

I stood there as my parents pulled me into a hug, sobbing about how the Capitol could not really take me. How I had to stay here with them. They didn't understand though, there was no defying the Capitol, at least not without them killing other people instead.

The Capitol was just full of a bunch of gutless freaks that felt that they had to kill people to stay on top. They thought that the only way to keep their control was to just murder people. So that was what they were doing now once again. They were going to kill twenty-three of us just to show that they were in charge still.

My parents spent the majority of what I assumed was supposed to be their final goodbye, sobbing away to themselves. And for the rest of it they were still crying but they at least managed to choke out some words at the same time.

"We can't lose you as well, Juniper!" My father choked out at one point. "Not after... Not after what happened to our Aran!" And then he burst into tears again.

Aran had been my older brother; I say had since he was the one who had died in the war that had not long since been lost. We had been so close to getting our whole family through the war but then Aran was taken from us right at the end. We had managed to avoid that for so long and we really did think that maybe we would manage it. We thought that we could possibly keep our whole family and then maybe even win the war as well. But then we couldn't get around the Capitol's mountains and we were trapped in a battle where they could easily pick us off one by one. And Aran was then killed, on the same day that the Capitol blew up district thirteen. So we lost the war and my family lost the only son.

It was only as the door was being opened for my parents to leave when I finally got a short little, "You stay strong, Juniper. Come back to us." From my dad and an, "I love you." From mum. At least they did actually care about me then.

But then they were gone and I was left alone with my thoughts. What would it do to my parents if they were to lose another child? What if it really was to come down to them losing both of their children in such a short amount of time? Would they even manage to get through that?

I sat back down on my chair and thought over my parents visit. I tried to trick myself into thinking that they would be fine, but that didn't work. Of course they would not just be fine! They were going to be losing their second child very soon and from the look of all the cameras at the reaping they would also be forced to watch my murder! How could the Capitol do that? Were they just trying to drive the rest of the country insane? Was that how they planned to keep us under control? By causing the majority of us to lose our minds and then by killing the rest? Were they really that determined to stay on top?

I didn't think that I would get anymore visitors, so when a couple of my friends turned up I was very surprised. I was shocked that they had let my parents come and say goodbye, so obviously the fact that they had let my friends come as well was an even bigger one.

The two boys walked over to me, one sitting on the couch next to me and the other frowning slightly and then sitting on the arm.

"Hey." One of them said, looking over at me. I nodded slightly back, slowly dragging myself out of my own thoughts and focusing on them.

"You okay?" The other said.

I nodded and leaned back on the couch, pulling my knees up so that I was hugging them. I was not wearing a dress like the majority of the girls from my district, so I was safe from flashing the boys. Not that I would really care anyway. I wasn't like the other girls, I did not care about looking nice and sitting properly. I just wanted to have fun and enjoy life. After all, what was the point in living if you were not going to enjoy yourself?

I looked up at the two of them and placed a smile on my face. "Are you two idiots going to be okay without me?"

That got them back to their old selves... well, it sort of did.

Aidan, the one that was sat on the arm of the chair on my side, rolled his eyes at me. "You've got to be kidding; you're the one that needs us."

I smiled up at him. "You're joking right? You two would still be stuck in school detention if it was not for me. Wasn't I always the one getting you out of them?" I raised my eyebrows at him.

I laughed as Aidan tried to think of an argument for that, huffing when he could not think of one. Of course he couldn't, what I had said had been true after all.

I glanced over at Haydn. "What about you? Are you going to be alright?"

He shrugged, glancing between me and Aidan. "I'll be fine. I'm sure we'll find someone else to look after."

I rolled my eyes at him. "Aren't you two lovely." I shook my head slightly and muttered, "Nice to feel so bloody loved."

Since I was looking down, I did not noticed the two of them exchange a look over my head.

By the time I leaned back against the couch again and looked up, both of them were looking at me. "Juniper?" That was Aidan; I'd always secretly preferred him over Hayden. "Will you be okay?"

I shrugged, looking up at him. "Honestly? I don't know..."

I saw him bite his lip before putting an arm around my shoulder. "You can get through this, you're smart enough." He told me.

I shook my head, leaning against him slightly. "I think I'll need more than that to get through this. Do you know how small the chances are of me ever coming home again?"

I looked up at him to see him looking down at me. "You can't think like that. Just... I don't know. Try to come back."

I knew why he was struggling; we did not actually know what this arena would include. Were there going to be weapons in there? Did they plan on giving us some training with these weapons before hand? What was the arena actually going to be? For all I knew it could be a desert wasteland that they expected us to find some way to survive with. What items would they give us? Would I have to find my own food and water? There were so many questions and I did not even know who to ask. So of course he was struggling with it all as well, how could he give me advice when he had no idea what it would be himself?

"Yeah... I guess that's all I can do, right? Try to get back home?"

And that was true, all I could do was try my hardest. There was no guarantee that I would ever come home or that I would ever get to see friends or family again. The chances were that I was going to be by myself until I ended up dead in this unknown arena.

He nodded and pulled me slightly closer to him. "Just promise me you'll try your hardest because I am not going to let you just leave me behind with him."

I forced a smile. "Alright... I promise I will try." I looked up at him and paused for a moment before adding, "You don't really think I would just give up, do you?"

He shook his head. "Of course not. You're a fighter; I just wanted to make sure."

I glanced over at Hayden to see him fiddling with his thumbs, looking away from us.

"Hey? What's up?" I said, nudging him in the side with my elbow.

Hayden looked up at me and shrugged. "What? Oh... nothing." He glanced over at Aidan and gave him a look that I did not understand. "I should just be going. I'm sorry, Juniper... My parents expect me to take Maddie home and she's waiting outside by herself at the moment... You know how she gets scared."

I nodded and shifted over to give him a quick hug goodbye. Maddie was his little sister, she was only seven and their parents seemed to expect Hayden to look after her all the time. She was a cute little kid, but she was shy and easily scared so even with Hayden looking after her I did not see her much. "I guess I'll see you then..." I said as I moved away from him. Yeah, I was not the best at saying goodbye.

He nodded and stood up, heading towards the door after saying a quiet 'goodbye'. And then it was just me and Aidan. I guessed we did not have long left though.

I turned back to Aidan, shifting over on the couch so that he could slide down next to me. He knew I never liked it when I had to look up at him so much.

He kept his eyes on me for a moment before whispering, "Juniper?"

I raised an eyebrow at him slightly to show that I was listening.

"You can do this, you know. You could probably outfox half of the other tributes easily. And if all comes to it then just run. You're a good runner." I nodded as he spoke. "If you work hard then you can come back home. I swear I will miss you way too much if you don't..."

I gave him a small smile as I whispered. "I'll miss you too you know... When I'm there." And it was true. I would miss him. I would probably miss him more than I was willing to admit.

He gave me a small smile back and was about to say something else but then the Peacekeepers opened the door and it was time for him to leave. He barely glanced at them before looking back at me again. "Stay strong, you can do this."

I nodded my head slightly and then before I could say anything he leaned in and pressed his lips to mine. I was too shocked to return the kiss and before I could even get my head around what had just happened the Peacekeepers were pulling him out of the room.

I watched as the door was slammed shut behind him, my fingers touching my lips where his had just been. Oh god... My best friend had just kissed me and I was being sent to what was possibly my death.

I had to get home again. There was no way I was going to leave him just like that. I had to know if he actually meant it.

* * *

**_AN. _**_Hey, I have a few more chapters that are ready, but I won't be posting them until I start working on some later chapters, I like to be ahead of you all._

_Oh, and I would love it if you could leave some reviews - I like to know what people think of it c:_


	6. Chapter 5 - District Four

**[Aeries Glass P.O.V]**

Swimming was probably the most enjoyable thing in the world for me. The feeling of almost weightlessness as you glide through the currents is one that I look forward to when I wake up in a morning. It's amazing really, the sea. I do not understand how anyone could ever fear the water, in my district people joke that you learn to swim before you learn to walk. Which is a load of rubbish really, but it is not that far off. It is a tradition to introduce toddlers to the sea, one that was nearly lost during the war. We wouldn't really lose it of course; swimming is a part of everyday life here at district four. It is needed for most jobs and for the rest of the population it is just useful to do. After all, who would want to leave in a district that has a lot of water in it when they do not even know how to swim? It would be pretty stupid to do that.

I smiled brightly as I came up for air from the water. I swam when I was nervous so of course I had gone for an early morning swim today - the Capitol wanted everyone to meet by the town square a bit later today, and after the recent war that we lost I could not understand how that was not making everyone else nervous. Sure, I was only thirteen but even I could understand that this was going to be bad.

I was about to dive back down into the water when I noticed someone stood on the beach waving at what I guessed was me. I raised an eyebrow at the tiny figure – I was quite far away – took a deep breath and dove back under the water, swimming towards the shore under the water until the water became shallow enough for me to just walk. By that point I could recognise the figure as my older brother.

"How long have you been out here, Aeries?" He asked as he threw a towel towards me. It was my towel that I had left with my flip-flops further up the beach – of course he had my flip-flops in his hand as well.

I shrugged as I wrapped the towel around my waist and then took my flip-flops from him and slipped them on my feet. "Since six, I think. I'm not sure."

He looked at me and shook his head. "You know mum worries when you're out that long. Now come on, you have got to get ready for this Capitol thing. They said that you've got to look nice and for some reason I do not believe that includes you in a bloody bikini."

I stuck my tongue out at him, like the mature person that I was, before starting to walk back up the beach. I knew that he would be following behind me.

We did not live that far away from this strip of beach, a small fact that I had always loved. We lived in a little single storey house that was a bit cramped for the four of us to live in but we were used to it. We had lived there for as long as I can remember, which means my whole life really. During the war it was probably one of the safest places to live within district four – the centre of the district along with the main boating areas had suffered the majority of the Capitol fire and lucky for us we did not live near either of those.

My brother walked a bit slower than me, but he had no need to rush anyway since he had already got ready. I still had to go through my mothers' speech about staying out in the water for too long and then I had to actually get dressed as well. Something told me that I would be spending more time listening to my mother than actually getting ready. I had actually barely arrived at our little home when my mothers' voice rang out.

"Aeries Glass, I thought I told you that you were not to leave this house this morning! Must you always refuse to listen to me?"

I gave what seemed to be a rehearsed "yes, mother", "no, mother", "I'm sorry, mother" as she started to ramble on about how today was important and that people would be punished if they did not show up.

"Oh and I was hoping to do your hair all pretty today as well." She said as her speech drew to a close.

"I'm sure the Capitol won't mind what my hair will look like, mum." I said, looking up at her with big eyes. Yes, I was going to play the cute card to get out of this. "And you know I like to just have my hair down."

She sighed and looked me over. "Oh alright! But next time you have to listen to me."

I nodded and agreed that I would even though we both knew that was a lie.

"Go on now then, Aeries. I left you a dress on your bed and I actually do expect you to wear it." She said, giving me a gentle push in that direction. Our house was one of the few in this area that actually had walls separating it into different rooms and that was only because my parents felt it necessary to give their children at least some privacy.

I nodded and walked in that direction, deciding that for once I would do what my mother wanted me to do. It couldn't hurt to make her happy at least once every now and then.

When I got to my tiny bedroom – just large enough to fit the small bed in it along with a little box at the end of my bed where my collection of clothes were kept – I found a pretty blue dress sat on top of my bed. I was shocked that we had ever managed to afford something so pretty. I ran my fingers over the material before carefully picking it up. I was so scared that I would break it.

I carefully put the dress back down before pulling my towel off and drying my hair with it. I then stripped off my swimming stuff and slipped the blue fabric of the dress over my head. The material did not cling to me instead it just seemed to float down to my knees. It was light, which was just how I liked it. It was perfect.

I rushed back through to where my parents were waiting with my older brother. "Mum? How...? This must have been so expensive!" I said, looking up at her.

My father shook his head, "It was not too much, my dear. And it is a little bit big so it should fit you for some time. You look beautiful in it anyway."

My mother smiled. "He's right, Aeries, you do look beautiful in it."

I looked between them both before looking down at the dress, running my fingers over the thin material again. "I love it."

And I really did, it was by far the prettiest thing that I had ever owned.

"Come here though... let me at least brush that hair of yours." Of course, did I really think I could escape without mum doing something to my hair? She only wanted to be able to make her daughter pretty of course and it was probably mean of me to deny her that, so I nodded my head and walked over to her.

Once my mother had finished yanking the brush through my hair we were finally able to leave. I still had my flip-flops on my feet, but that was mainly because I did not really have any other shoes that were suitable. The only other ones I had were basically wellingtons and for some reason I did not believe that they would go with the dress that well.

The town square was quite a far walk from where we lived, but we managed to get there on time along with the rest of the district. From the look of the crowds and the size of the square it was probably good that a lot of people had perished in the war otherwise there was no way we would all fit. And I cannot believe I really just thought that... Did I really just think that it was that a lot of people had died? People that I knew in some cases. Families had been torn apart and I had just thought that...

"Aeries? Are you okay?" My brother asked with a worried look on his face as he looked over at me.

I nodded my head and put a smile on my face. "Yeah... Why?"

"You just looked... ill. That's all." He shrugged, still watching me. "Are you sure that you're okay though?"

I nodded again. "Yeah, I was just wondering what they have planned for us, that's all." It was not a complete lie, I had been wondering what they were going to do to us and I knew that he would believe that.

He nodded and slipped an arm around my waist, giving me a quick squeeze before pulling away again. "It will be alright. They can't do anything that bad."

I looked up at him, not sure if I believed him or not. This was the Capitol that we were talking about. They enjoyed punishing us. I was nearly one hundred percent sure that punishing the surrounding districts was one of the Capitol's favourite pastimes.

We stood there for a few moments together, my brother, my parents and me. None of us really knew what to do now that we were there, so instead we just waited until a couple of Peacekeepers came up to us, one of them pushing my parents towards another street and the other leading me and my brother to two different lines.

I looked over at my brother, my eyebrows raised. Why on earth were they splitting everyone up? Did they just want to make people uncomfortable?

I looked down at the line that they had put me in, waiting for it to die down a bit. Slowly I took steps forward as another person was finished with the desk at the front. They were taking some kind of information from us by the look of it.

By the time I had reached the front of my line my big brother had already finished and had been dragged off into the crowds that I could see in front. I could just about make out what looked like areas cut off with grey rope. There was no sign of the tall blonde that was my older brother though.

"Name?"

I was dragged out of my thoughts by the woman on the desk, my eyes flying back to her as I wrapped my brain around that one word. She wanted my name... I could do that.

"A-Aeries... Aeries Glass." I stammered, watching as she wrote that down in a curvy, elegant looking handwriting.

She then asked for my age and told me to hold my finger out.

I held out my hand and watched as she jabbed my finger with a small metal object. I winced slightly and looked away. Did she really just take my blood?

When I did not move my hand or look back at her again, she grabbed hold of my wrist and directed my hand to the paper, only then to press my finger that she had jabbed onto the page.

Barely a second after she had let go of my wrist, another Peacekeeper was there to take hold of it. The large man half dragged and half led me towards one of the roped off areas, pulling the rope back to push me into it. I managed to catch myself before I fell on the ground, saving my dress from being ruined.

I sighed and brushed my hair out of my eyes – it had dried itself by now and had taken to falling down my back with a slight curl.

I looked around the area that I had been put in and spotted a group of my friends clustered together, including my best friend. I walked over to them straight away.

"Do any of you know what is going on?" I asked them.

My best friend shook her head. "No idea. You look really pretty though, Aeries."

I smiled at her and glanced down at my dress, brushing my hands over it automatically. "Thank you. My parents surprised me with it this morning." I looked at her properly; of course she looked amazing in a dark blue number. She always looked amazing. "I like your dress as well."

Abigail, that was her name, had more money than my family did. But that was not something that we had ever – or would ever - let get in the way of our friendship. She had always been able to afford the nicer things though.

She smiled back at me. "Thank you. Daddy bought it for me." Yes, I would admit that on occasions she could be a bit of a spoilt brat, but I still loved her. She was my best friend and she always would be. I had been friends with Abigail since I was just three years old. Even though a lot of people had frowned upon our friendship, we had still stuck by each other.

I nodded and looked down at her dark blue dress again, I would not admit it out loud in fear of annoying her, but I really did think that my soft blue dress was actually nicer than hers. Sure, hers was nice, but mine was simple. And I think it was that which made it so pretty to me. It had no complicated designs or heavy fabrics; it was just light like how I felt when I was in the water.

I glanced over at my other friends and waved a hello, about to talk to them properly but then the mayor stepped up onto the stage that I had not actually noticed. It had been built in front of the steps of the Justice Building and was also surrounded by a few large screens that were currently just showing the district four seal over a black background. At the front of the stage there were two large glass bowls that were filled with what I could only seem to describe as white confetti.

He smiled out at the crowd as he stepped up to the microphone, one hand going to his dark suit to straighten his jacket. "Welcome citizens of district four!" He called out.

I noticed the screens all flash on at once, each one reflecting the image of our mayor.

"I am glad to welcome to our district, Sylvia Foxe!"

* * *

**[Sylvia Foxe's P.O.V]**

I looked into the mirror and smirked, I was certainly going to be one of the best escorts for these games. I would certainly make sure of that. And with a little bit of luck maybe I would even get the winning tribute. Can you imagine what that would mean for me back in the Capitol? If I were to have the winner of the first ever Hunger Games then I would be a star. No one would forget Sylvia Foxe then. I could just imagine all of the important events that I would get myself an invite to! Oh how amazing I could make my life!

I carefully added another layer of my electric blue lipstick before putting it back down and tucking my matching hair behind my ear. I picked up my earpiece and carefully placed it into my ear so that it would be concealed and then I fluffed my hair back up again. Oh I was going to blow all of the other escorts out of the water!

I had made sure to get myself booked in with the best Capitol designers before leaving for district four. I wanted everything to be perfect for this. I swear if I had so much as one hair out of place then I would be one unhappy lady. I had to impress straight away. I had to get the attention that I deserved.

"Miss Foxe? You're on in a minute."

I smiled at the woman with the clipboard and nodded. I then took one last glance in the mirror to make sure that everything was perfect before heading towards the entrance to the stage that I was supposed to use. This was my time to shine.

"I am glad to welcome to our district, Sylvia Foxe!" I heard the mayor of district four call out to the audience. That was my signal.

I pulled the corners of my lips up into a confident smile and made my way onto the stage.

On my way to claim the microphone I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and I had to admit that I did look amazing. Everything between my fairly short fluffed up blue hair to my high heels was just as I wanted it. The designer that I had got for my dress had done an amazing job with it and it pulled everything else together perfectly. The material hugged me in all the right places and the colour was just the right amount of shades darker than the rest of my outfit.

I took the place behind the microphone and smiled out at the crowd. "Welcome... Welcome!" I said, my voice ringing out clearly around the square. "Oh what a wonderful, wonderful day for all of us to be here!" I looked out at the crowd, that confident smile still on my face. "Today we will be marking the start of what I hope to be a long standing tradition! Today we mark the start of the Hunger Games!"

I watched as confusion settled on most of the faces in front of me, they had no idea what I was on about. And I got to be the lucky one who got to tell them! Oh, how I loved my new job!

"Now, the Hunger Games..." I started again after a pause, I had to give them time to think and get all sorts of ideas in their heads first. It was just all part of the fun! "The Hunger Games will require a tribute of each gender from each district to be taken to the Capitol."

I heard a few gasps from my audience, obviously some of them were shocked that anyone from the districts would ever be allowed into the Capitol itself. If they found that as news then I really could not wait to tell them the rest!

"Once they are at the Capitol the tributes will go through three days of training, earning them a score at the end. After that all twenty-four of them will be put into a top secret arena where they will fight it all out to the death!" I grinned. "And the winner can come home to a life that will be full of luxury!"

This time I got a larger reaction, but it was definitely not one that I expected. The games were a brilliant idea so why were they taking it so badly.

I watched with wide eyes as an old man who was stood near the front of one of the side streets started to shout.

"You monsters! You can't force people to kill others!" He shouted, stepping forward.

I sighed and shook my head slightly before nodding towards one of the Peacekeepers. The Peacekeeper nodded and twisted his gun around so that it was pointing at the man. I kept my smile away as a bang erupted through the crowd. I knew he would have hit the target - Peacekeepers got enough training to be able to hit their target the first time.

Well, that old man just ruined everything for me. I was going to have a hard time pulling this back into my favour, so he deserved what he got.

Of course, watching a man get shot was enough to make the rest of the district calm down again. They all stood silently. At least the district showed some signs of having a bit of fight in them, that was always good in a tribute.

"Each tribute will be picked from one of these bowls in front of me; they will be between the ages of twelve and eighteen. Of course, any one else between those ages can volunteer to take their place just so long as they are the right gender." I smiled out at the audience. I was going to get my control back. I refused to be anything but the best.

"The games will go on every year, starting right now! Now let us start our first ever reaping!" I laughed. We were finally onto the good part!

I walked over to one of the large bowls, not one hundred percent sure which one it was until I hear a whisper in my ear, "Girls." I dipped my hand into the large bowl and plucked out a single piece of paper.

"Our lucky female tribute for the first Hunger Games will be..." I looked out at the audience as I paused, oh how I loved to keep them on their toes! "Aeries Glass!" I called out after a moment.

I smiled as a young girl in a simple yet gorgeous blue dress slowly made her way up to the stage – the only sound was the annoying sound of flip-flops as she walked.

She was too small for my liking; she had only come from the thirteen year old pen after all. Oh well, I could just hope that someone volunteered and if not that then maybe I could get a better boy. It was better to have one decent tribute than none.

I gave the young girl a smile and then turned back to the audience. "Any volunteers to take this girls place? Remember the life of luxury that you will have if you win!" I told them and then paused.

I guess this district was more of a disappointment than I thought they were... Oh well.

I sighed and turned to the boys bowl. "On to the boys it is then!" I said as I picked up a slip of paper from the top. I carefully unfolded the little slip and I was about to call out the name when I heard it.

"I volunteer!" A voice shouted from near the back of the square.

Well... Maybe this district was not as much of a let down as I thought it would be.

"Come on up." I grinned, watching as a fairly muscled boy from the eighteen year old section headed up to the stage. Yes... he would definitely do well. He was quite tall, rather handsome and he looked pretty strong. I could see this boy going far in the games.

When he got up to the stage I turned to look at him properly. "And what's your name?" I asked him as I dropped the original slip back into the bowl – I guess no one would ever get to know who it was.

"Skylar Tate." He said with dashing smile. "I'm eighteen."

"Well then, Skylar, good luck in the games!" I told him before turning back to the crowd. "District four; meet your tributes for the first annual Hunger Games! Skylar Tate and Aeries Glass!" I called out before leading the two of them off the stage and into the building behind it.

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_**AN**. Hey there! Please leave a review if you're reading this, I like to know what people think!_


	7. Chapter 6 - District Five

[Tileasha Elwood's P.O.V]

If I had to describe District Five in two words then they would have to be 'boring' and 'ugly'. Both of these would be completely truthful – this district is not the prettiest to look at. It does not have sandy beaches and blue seas like number four, nor does it have glorious fields of wheat and grain like number nine. It's just dark and industrial. If I was forced to use another word to describe it then I would probably have to use the word 'home'. Sure, I might not like it all that much but District Five was still my home. It would always be my home. That was just how it was.

I had lived in District Five all of my life and I could not see that changing anytime soon. Sure, I may use bad words to describe it but I still loved it deep down – just very, very deep down.

Of course I would like to get a chance to see the other districts, to see all of the different colours or even to learn how to swim. But that was never going to happen. I was going to grow old and die in District Five without seeing anymore of Panem. That was what I always had to remind myself when I found myself wandering away with my thoughts.

District Five was home.

I was currently sat on top of my little house chanting that over and over in my head, reminding myself over and over that I should just accept the lack of colour and get on with life. Heck, I was pretty sure the only real colour I would ever get was the red of my hair. Yet even that seemed to be a fairly common thing in my district, redheads and power plants. Who would have thought that they went together so well?

I tucked my hair behind me ear and pulled my knees up to my chest. I liked it up on my roof; it was much more peaceful than the rest of the district – even though I could still hear people below me and hear noises coming from one of the many nearby power plants. It was as peaceful as it got anyway.

I was not sure how long I stayed sat up there, but before I knew it I was being dragged back into the normal world by my fathers' shouts.

"Tillie? Tillie!" He called from below me. "Get down from that bloody roof already! You need to get ready still!" I could just about see him now; he was stood looking up at me with a frown settling on his features.

It was just me and my dad left now, my mum had died nearly a year back and I was always an only child anyway. Yeah, sure it was probably sad but if you lived in the districts surrounding the Capitol then you were used to lose. You should be used to seeing families torn apart. You should be used to losing those that you care about. That was just how it worked.

I carefully slid down the roof until I was low enough to jump – I had done this often enough by now to not hurt myself. I landed a bit to his side, smiling innocently. "How long do I have?" I asked him.

He shrugged and grunted something about not long. Someone was in a grump this morning.

I walked past him into the house, heading straight for the little corner that was supposed to be my room. I had a mattress on the floor and a cardboard box where I kept my clothes. We did not have much, but it had always been just enough for us. Sure we could use more food here and there, but other than that we had always been happy. I remember when I was little I would often climb into bed with my parents rather than staying in my corner; I would snuggle in between them and sleep peacefully through the night. My dad had made me stop that though when I turned eleven.

I never really slept as well on my little mattress, it was colder. And that got worse when I lost my mum; it was worse knowing that she was not even in the house anymore. That she was just... gone.

I routed through my box until I pulled out what used to be a white shirt of my mums. It was a bit big and the colour had faded to a grey, but it was still the best thing that I had in there. There was no way that I had anything else in there that could ever be nice enough for the Capitol. I pulled the shirt on over a black skirt and then tucked it in. Hopefully that was good enough for the Capitol.

I dragged an old brush through my hair before heading back outside to my dad.

He looked me up and down before turning around and heading towards the centre of our district. We had never really been that big on talking to each other since my mum had died. She was the one that held us all together, without her we were just two people who lived under the same roof. That was what my family had become.

I sighed and followed him, straightening my skirt as I walked.

Sure, I wished that my family was closer sometimes, that my dad would actually talk to me properly. But I could not see that happening. I was just going to have to put up with the silence until I was old enough to move out and start my own life. It would probably be hard to just leave him all by himself, but I would come back and visit him every now and then. Suffer through the silence for a bit longer so that I could make sure he was alright. And that would be it. That was what my life was going to be like.

By the time we had reached the square with the Justice Building, I had already heard whispers about how they were putting everyone around my age into the actual square and that everyone else was expected to watch from surrounding streets. That meant that whatever they had planned was for the people my age.

I finally caught up to my dad and kissed him on the cheek. "I'll see you later." I said and then headed off to get closer to the square.

There were desks set up at the entrances to the square and a mixture of men and woman sat on them. Further into the square I could make out what looked like a stage set up with screens surrounding it. Even where I was now I could see screens dotted around on the surrounding streets. Obviously whatever they were doing they were planning on filming.

I glanced around at the lines that had formed in front of the desks and quickly joined one, hoping that I was doing the right thing. Luckily, I was and I was at the front of the line in no time.

When I finished at the desk I stuck my finger in my mouth automatically. The little prick that they had made at the tip of my finger did not bleed that much, but putting it in my mouth was an automatic move. I had done it since I was little.

I still had my finger in a mouth when a Peacekeeper came along to lead me towards a little section of the square – it was roped off into fourteen different areas in total and from the look of it so far they had us organised by age and gender.

I stood silently where I was put, looking around at the other girls. All of them seemed to look just as confused I was feeling. What was going on?

After a few minutes of watching more people being placed in the different areas, I got bored and instead looked up towards the stage to try to figure out what was going on.

"Tillie?" A voice called, dragging me out of my thoughts for the second time that day. But this time it was not my father – it was one of my friends.

I turned in the direction that it came from and saw a dark haired girl worming her way through the crowd towards me. That was Payton, I had known her quite a long time and she had been my friend for that long as well. Some people said that she was the dark haired version of me, but we could not see it.

"Oh... hey!" I said and gave her a small smile. "Do you have any idea what is going on here?"

She shook her head and glanced around when she reached me. "No idea, sorry."

I shrugged and gave her a quick hug. "No problem. We should find out soon anyway, right?"

"Right." She smiled at me.

I glanced around at the area again; it was getting more and more cramped in here. I sighed and reached for Payton's hand, I did not want to lose her in the crowds.

Payton nodded at me and squeezed my hand.

I was getting rather nervous about all of this and I had no idea what it even was. I guess that was why I was nervous though, because I did not know.

After what felt like a lifetime, finally there was a movement on the stage. Our old mayor hobbled up on the stage, a silence falling over the crowd as we all watched him. Our mayor must have been one of the oldest out of all the different districts. He was quite a strange man as well, always seeming like he was somewhere else.

He cleared his throat when he reached the middle of the stage, looking around at the crowds that were facing him. All of the screens that I could see reflected him on them now. Every camera pointed in his direction.

"Hello..." He said, his eyes darting from side to side. He certainly looked nervous and a lot more with us than normal. I wondered what that was about...

"I would like you to welcome to the district, Malik Shay from the Capitol." He continued before moving to sit down on a chair as a young man entered the stage on the other side. This man was obviously from the Capitol – and that was not just because the mayor had said so. He had dark purple hair that was styled in a way that you could never find in District Five. From the close up of him that was showing on the screens, I could see that he also had a purple design of swirls tattooed up one side of his face and then going right down to disappear below the collar of his crisp white shirt. He had a tie on with his shirt, the colour being just a bit lighter than his hair. It was purples like these that you would never find in my district. It was just so... strange to see.

He smiled out at us, but he was only met with silent stares still.

"Hello, District Five!" He said, storming past the cold welcome. "It's lovely to be here." That was obviously a lie. I refused to believe that any Capitol citizen would find it 'lovely' to be in one of the districts. Especially District Five. "I come here with some lovely news!" He grinned at us. Maybe he actually did believe that. But for some reason I did not, if this strange purple man found it lovely then I doubted to believe that I would agree.

He then carried on to talking, telling us about something called the 'Hunger Games'. The Capitol were planning on taking a girl and a boy from between the ages of twelve and eighteen from each district, each year. They were then going to give these people (they called them 'tributes') three days of training before putting them all together into a mysterious arena. And then came the worst part.

They were going to force these children to fight it out to the death until there was only one of them left.

They were going to make children become murderers.

It was kill or be killed.

The Capitol were truly monsters if they thought that they could do that. If they thought that they could get away with forcing children to become murderers to survive then they were mental. If they really thought that the districts would just go along with having their children murdered every year, on live television, then they really were fools.

What things must go through the Capitols minds if they came up with this as a solution?

I gripped Payton's hand tighter, glancing over at her as Malik Shay started to talk about how tributes would be selected. This was madness.

He described the process as a 'lucky dip'. They would put everyone who was the right age into large bowl, once for each time that they were eligible. But everyone who was the correct age would also have the option of tesserae which would mean that they would have their name put in an extra time in exchange for food. These extra turns would then add up over each year, meaning that you would have your name put in more and more as each year passed. Then once you had passed the age of eighteen you were free. Your name would no longer be put into the reaping bowl.

Of course, it was not certain that you would be going into the arena even if your name was picked. There was still the chance that someone could volunteer to take your place. But I could not see that being that common of a thing. Why would someone volunteer themselves into the Hunger Games? Why would they volunteer themselves to be put to their death?

I could not understand how he had described it as a 'lucky dip' as well. What was lucky about having your name picked? What was lucky about having your best friends name picked? Or maybe even a sibling or family member? Nothing about this was lucky. Either way it was going to be someone's child or sibling. It was always going to be someone's loved one that was being taken away and thrown into the arena.

After his long speech that he seemed overly happy about, Malik said that we would be starting with the first reaping right now.

I glanced over at Payton again, quietly wondering what would happen if it was her that was picked. She was my best friend and she had always been there for me. What would it be like if she was taken away by the Hunger Games? Of course after that I started to wonder, and worry, about all of the other people who may be picked. I worried about people that I knew from school and work. I just stood there and worried.

Never did I expect it to be me though.

Never did I expect it to be my name that came out of that bowl.

But it was.

I was going into the first ever Hunger Games.

Crap.

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_**AN. **__As always, please leave a review. I really want to know what you all think!_


	8. Chapter 7 - District Six

[Capitol Citizen P.O.V]

I poked my head through the door to the living room, glancing at the large television to make sure I was not missing the next reaping. I was currently refilling the popcorn bowl since the adverts were on.

"You are recording all of this, right?" I called through to the living room. I wanted to be able to watch all of the reapings again later. It would be very useful to know who the tributes were before they arrived in the Capitol. I wanted to know who was worth backing!

Once I had the popcorn all in the bowl I wiggled back into the living room and sat down on my red couch.

"Of course it is all recording." My sister said as she rolled her eyes at me. "Shh! District Six is starting!"

I rolled my eyes back at her, pulling the popcorn bowl away so that she could not reach it. My eyes were focused on the screen though. Once again I frowned at the site of the district – they were not the prettiest of places. I think the only one that I truly like the look of was District Four. Just the sight of the sea made me want to dip my toes in the water.

I settled down against the many cushions that I had on my couch, popping some popcorn into my mouth as I watched the sixth reaping of the day.

I sighed as the escort for number six came out onto the stage they had set up there. She had an outfit that seemed to centre on the colour pink. And she did not look good in it. If I was her then I would be firing her stylist by now.

"Have you seen what she's wearing?" I said to my sister, my eyes not leaving the screen.

"I know! What was she thinking?" My sister sighed.

We watched as the district was told about the Hunger Games. A frown settling on my face as they did not take it as well as we thought they would. "What is wrong with them? Do they not realise what a brilliant thing these games are?"

"Maybe they are as crazy as some people think." My sister shrugs as she steals some popcorn from me.

I nodded. "Yeah, maybe." That would not surprise me. I would probably go crazy if I was forced to live in a place like that.

We fell silent again as the actual reaping started. It was time to see what our District Six tributes would be like.

I grabbed the remote for the television and turned the volume up so that I could hear every word clearly.

"Let's start with our boy then!" The escort said. I had already decided that I did not like this one, even if I had not seen all that much from her yet.

I watched as she picked a slip of paper from one of the bowls. "Flint Brady!" She called out with a smile.

I had to say, for a district kid, the boy that came up to the stage was rather cute. He was nothing by Capitol standards of course, but with a bit of work he could probably look pretty good. He was fairly tall and muscular, tanned with short black hair. And when one of the cameras zoomed in on him I saw that he had little freckles dotted across his nose. As I thought, cute.

He gave the crowd a cheeky little smile before telling the escort that he was seventeen.

And then it was time for the girl.

"And our girl for this year is... Janie Moore!" The escort called out. I probably should have listened for her name, at least then I could complain about her. I mean, with what she was wearing she was giving a terrible name to the Capitol!

"I volunteer." Another voice called out, coming from just the fifteen year old area.

A girl that was just a bit shorter than Flint came walking up to the stage. She had long wavy brown hair and she had the look of someone that could probably be pretty if she was pushed in the opposite direction of what she was going.

"Well... This is a nice surprise!" The escort said and then asked for the girls' name.

"Breeze... Breeze Flowers." The girl smiled.

"Well, Breeze, good luck in the Hunger Games!" She said before turning back to the cameras. "Congratulations to our lucky tributes from District Six! Flint Brady and Breeze Flowers! May the odds before ever in your favour!"

And then the screen turned black with just the Capitol logo on it.

I looked over at my sister and said, "I preferred District Four."

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_**AN.**__ Please leave a review! It'd be nice to know - if anyone is actually reading it that is - what you all think!_


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